The court ruling has been finalized on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's order for restaurants to shorten business hours amid the coronavirus pandemic. The ruling concluded that the order was illegal, but it rejected a compensation claim by a restaurant chain operator.

Global-Dining filed a compensation suit against the Tokyo government in March last year. The firm claimed that the order for cutting business hours based on special legislation for tougher antivirus measures was illegal. It argued that the legislation violates the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of business.

The Tokyo District Court ruled in May this year that the local government's move was illegal, pointing out its failure to provide a reasonable explanation about the criteria for issuing the order.

But the court dismissed the compensation claim, saying the Tokyo government was not at fault.

Global-Dining appealed to the Tokyo High Court.

But the firm withdrew the appeal on Tuesday, finalizing the district court's ruling.

Lawyers for the plaintiff told a news conference that it would take a long time until the higher court hands down a ruling. They said that no requests or orders have been issued to restaurants since the district court's ruling. They stressed that the ruling had sufficient social significance.