The Yomiuri Shimbun, with a daily circulation of 14 million copies – which it says is the world's largest – took Kobe-based Digital Alliance to court, alleging that its web site had used duplicates of the newspaper headlines or had made minor amendments to them in breach of copyright.
According to a report in the Mainichi Daily News, The Yomiuri Shimbun asked Tokyo District Court for an injunction and damages of 68 million yen (around £350,000).
The court refused, with Judge Toshiaki limura ruling: "Using headlines that are open to the public on the internet without authorisation does not constitute a copyright violation".
He added, "These headlines were created within 25 characters, and either stated objective facts, or used only very short qualifying words, and cannot be described as creative expression".
The newspaper is set to appeal, reports the Mainichi Daily News.