Sounds strange, but it was the only way the Japanese authorities could successfully prosecute the 24 year old student from Japan.

Masato Nakatsuji, 24, a graduate student at Osaka Electro-Communication University is believed to have embedded a computer virus behind a Japanese animation film called “Clannad”.

Apparently he arranged it so that when a woman walked amid falling cherry blossoms the victim downloaded the “Harada virus”.

Kyoto Police could not find anything in the law books they could charge him with, other than stealing and distributing the Clannad film. The police thought about damage to property and obstructing business, but the only charge that had enough oomph in court was the copyright theft.

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