Nobuki Yamamoto, a Japanese artist, was the first to put old telephone booths to use by converting them into ‘fish aquariums’ and adding features such as bubbles coming out of the phone receiver.
The city of Yamatokoriyama, located in Nara Prefecture, is known for its cultivation of goldfish. A merchants’ association installed a phone booth on the shopping street of the city and created a phone booth aquarium containing goldfish similar to that created by Mr. Nobuki Yamamoto, of course without his consent.
See below:
The phone booth erected by the Association | The original phone booth by Yamamoto
*We claim no copyright on the image. It is being used for representational and educational purposes only. Image source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/01/14/national/crime-legal/goldfish-phone-booth/
Nobuki Yamamoto filed a suit for copyright infringement at the Nara District Court, who dismissed the claim stating that, putting goldfish into a phone booth ‘is an idea’ and not ‘an expression of idea’ and therefore is not subject to copyright protection.
Upon an appeal filed at the Osaka High Court, the court assessed the matter differently. On January 14, 2021, the Osaka High Court held that the association’s act of imitating and installing a phone booth with goldfish infringed the copyright of the artist. In addition to ruling in favour of Yamamoto, the High Court ordered the association to compensate Mr. Yamamoto by paying damages to the tune of ¥ 5,50,000 (approximately USD 5300).
