Oricon Sues Journalist

In mid-December, Japan’s music charts company, Oricon, filed a 50 million yen (about US$400,000) lawsuit against freelance music journalist Hiromichi Ugaya in Tokyo District Court.

According to the suit, Ugaya damaged the company’s reputation in the April 2006 issue of the magazine Cyzo. The article in question looked at the relationship between Japanese talent agencies and Oricon, which is considered the Japanese equivalent of Billboard.

In the article, Ugaya said that Oricon has never "clarified" its methods for ranking records, and added that a number of record industry people have told him it is relatively easy to manipulate the numbers.

Record companies and talent agencies often use Oricon rankings in their promotion strategies.

Ugaya isn’t the first journalist to be sued because of something he said in print.

However, it’s not as usual for a journalist to be sued for saying something in an article he didn’t write.

Ugaya wasn’t the author of the Cyzo piece, he was simply quoted in it. On his Web site he explains that what he said is a "public unspoken secret" among Japanese music writers, but Oricon doesn’t want to discuss it. It only wants Ugaya to be quiet.

Even if he wins the case, Ugaya estimates that he will have to pay at least 7 million yen in lawyers’ fees, an amount he says will break him financially.

Oricon, he notes, is not suing Cyzo and has not even demanded a retraction from the magazine. It has only said it will drop the case if Ugaya personally takes back what he said.

, he notes, is not suing and has not even demanded a retraction from the magazine. It has only said it will drop the case if Ugaya personally takes back what he said.