INVASION OF PRIVACY RIGHTS
KEYWORD: DEFAMATION, PRIVACY RIGHTS.

The Tokyo District Court ordered payment of 1.2 million yen by Shukan Gendai, a weekly magazine for publishing a photo showing a soccer star with an actress. The court held that the photo and accompanying story had close relations, thus constituting an invasion of privacy. The soccer star also won another 1.1 million yen from another magazine which ran a similar story.

The Tokyo District Court also found an invasion of privacy a magazine article that ran a photo run of 24 young stars in their school uniforms together with the names of the schools that they attended. The magazine was ordered to pay 12.4 million yen.

In February, 2004 the Tokyo District Court found that the Self Defense Agency had violated privacy rights when it compiled a database of people who had sought information from the agency. The database included names, addresses and telephone numbers. The court ordered the agency to pay 100,000 yen to one writer on the list who had filed the case.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman

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