Latest news with #SecondPettyBench
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Health
- Kyodo News
Top court rejects appeal by doctor over euthanasia of ALS patient
KYODO NEWS - 6 hours ago - 19:35 | All, Japan Japan's top court has rejected an appeal by a doctor convicted of consensually killing a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare neurological disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2019 in Kyoto, western Japan, finalizing his 18-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court's Second Petty Bench rejected arguments that found Yoshikazu Okubo, 47, guilty of aiding another's suicide would violate the constitutional right to self-determination. In Japan, euthanasia is not legally recognized. The Kyoto District Court in March last year sentenced Okubo to 18 years in prison for administering a lethal dose of a sedative to Yuri Hayashi, 51, judging that his actions were "not socially acceptable, as she was killed in such a short amount of time that it would prevent an adequate examination or confirmation of intent." The Osaka High Court in November upheld the lower court ruling. According to the ruling, Okubo conspired with former doctor Naoki Yamamoto, 47, to administer the sedative to Hayashi in her Kyoto apartment in November 2019 at her request. Okubo was also convicted of killing Yamamoto's 77-year-old father in 2011. Yamamoto was convicted of murdering his own father by unspecified means, for which he received a 13-year prison term. His sentence was finalized in 2024. Related coverage: Doctor's 18-yr term for consensual killing of ALS sufferer upheld
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Health
- Kyodo News
Top court rejects appeal by doctor over euthanasia of ALS patient
KYODO NEWS - 30 minutes ago - 19:35 | All, Japan Japan's top court has rejected an appeal by a doctor convicted of consensually killing a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare neurological disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2019 in Kyoto, western Japan, finalizing his 18-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court's Second Petty Bench rejected arguments that found Yoshikazu Okubo, 47, guilty of aiding another's suicide would violate the constitutional right to self-determination. In Japan, euthanasia is not legally recognized. The Kyoto District Court in March last year sentenced Okubo to 18 years in prison for administering a lethal dose of a sedative to Yuri Hayashi, 51, judging that his actions were "not socially acceptable, as she was killed in such a short amount of time that it would prevent an adequate examination or confirmation of intent." The Osaka High Court in November upheld the lower court ruling. According to the ruling, Okubo conspired with former doctor Naoki Yamamoto, 47, to administer the sedative to Hayashi in her Kyoto apartment in November 2019 at her request. Okubo was also convicted of killing Yamamoto's 77-year-old father in 2011. Yamamoto was convicted of murdering his own father by unspecified means, for which he received a 13-year prison term. His sentence was finalized in 2024. Related coverage: Doctor's 18-yr term for consensual killing of ALS sufferer upheld
Japan Times
04-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
FC2 infringed on Dwango's patent, Japan's top court rules
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld lower court rulings against FC2, finding that the U.S. video-sharing platform operator infringed on a patent held by Japanese peer Dwango, which operates the Niconico platform. The top court's Second Petty Bench, presided by Justice Koichi Kusano, rejected FC2's appeals against two separate rulings by the Intellectual Property High Court in July 2022 and May 2023, both of which ordered the Las Vegas-based firm to stop violating Dwango's patent on a video comment-posting system and pay damages of ¥100 million ($671,200) and ¥11 million, respectively, to the Kadokawa unit. FC2, which distributes videos with a similar comment-posting function in Japan via servers abroad, demanded that the rulings be overturned on the grounds that a patent is protected only in a country where it was granted. The justice, however, flexibly interpreted the "territoriality doctrine," saying, "If the patent has to lose its effectiveness only because the videos are distributed from abroad, the patent law cannot serve its purpose of contributing to the development of industry through the protection and promotion of inventions." Now that the internet has made cross-border distribution of information easier than ever, there is "no special meaning" for the Supreme Court to take into account the FC2 server location, Kusano noted.
