OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a 66-year-old man for allegedly colorizing the first “Godzilla” movie without permission and selling copies, reports Mainichi Broadcasting System (June 17).
According to the police, Ippei Miyamoto, a part-time worker from Toyonaka City, allegedly sold a DVD of a copy of the 1954 black-and-white “Godzilla” movie to a man in Tokyo last November.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of violating the Copyright Law, Miyamoto admitted to the charges. “I sold pirated DVDs even though I knew it was a crime,” he said.
The crime was discovered when an employee of a non-profit organization that works to protect copyrights consulted police.
Miyamoto listed the DVDs on multiple flea market sites for between around 3,000 and 30,000 yen each. He included such slogans as “using image generation AI to colorize classic black-and-white movies.”
All told, he is believed to have sold around 500 DVDs between January last year and May this year, making a profit of around 1.7 million yen.
