Tokyo - Japan has made its first arrest of an individual who uploaded a movie to a file-sharing network before its official release, and Kazushi Hirata now faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $96,000 for sharing the movie "Wanted" on Japan's Winny file-sharing network, according to reports.

Tokyo - Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reports that four major ISP groups in the country have agreed to partner with copyright groups to develop a protocol for closing the accounts of subscribers who repeatedly engage in illegal file-sharing.

Tokyo - In the first case of its kind, a Japanese court has found the developer of a peer-to-peer service called Winny guilty of abetting copyright infringement, and ordered him to pay nearly $13,000 in fines, Variety reported.