Overview
- Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi found Cloudflare liable for aiding copyright infringement and awarded ¥500,900,000 to Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan.
- The publishers sued in 2022, arguing Cloudflare continued services to major piracy sites despite notices, with the court saying it had a duty to halt within a month.
- Cloudflare has indicated it will appeal the Tokyo District Court ruling.
- Evidence in the case described contracts serving sites distributing more than 4,000 works, with traffic estimates cited in court reaching up to 2 billion chapters viewed per month.
- Observers say the ruling is the first to recognize damages liability for a distribution service provider, a shift that could pressure CDNs as ABJ counts 900-plus pirate sites and estimates annual losses at about ¥8.5 trillion.