Japanese court orders Yahoo, newspaper to pay damages over photo

[News_Editor]

Japanese court orders Yahoo, newspaper to pay damages over photo

2011-06-17 12:48:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered Yahoo Japan Corp. and a national newspaper to pay a total of 660,000 yen ($8,178) in compensation over a photo of a handcuffed man carried on Yahoo Japan's Web site, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the photo published by Yahoo featured the late Kazuyoshi Miura, who is the former president of an import company. He was acquitted in 2003 of charges he was involved in the fatal 1981 shooting of his wife Kazumi in Los Angeles.

The photo in question was taken when Miura was arrested in connection with another criminal case in September 1985. He could be seen handcuffed and was accompanied by a number of police officers.

Miura committed suicide in October 2008 in a Los Angeles jail, according to the newspaper. He had been detained over the 1981 murder for seven months in the U.S. territory of Saipan before being transferred to Los Angeles.

After Miura died and Yahoo Japan published the photo, his widow filed a lawsuit against Yahoo Japan and The Sankei Shimbun, which also published the photo. She originally demanded 6.6 million Japanese yen ($81,787) for emotional distress.

"The photo harmed the feelings of the bereaved family," presiding Judge Shigeo Matsunami said in the ruling on Wednesday, as cited by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. "The company (Yahoo Japan) neglected its duty in preventing the photo from being carried [on the Web site]."

Yahoo rejected any wrongdoing, but the court said it did not see why it was necessary to carry the photo of his arrest while reporting on Miura's death. "We'll consider our next move after we read the court ruling," a Yahoo Japan spokesperson told Yomiuri Shimbun.

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