Copyright Act

The author of a work not yet made public (this includes a work made public without the author's consent; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) has the right to make available or present that work to the public. The same applies to any derivative work derived from an original work that has not yet been made public.

In a case set forth in one of the following items, the author is presumed to consent to the action set forth in the relevant item:

the author transfers the copyright to a work not yet made public:making available or presenting the work to the public through the exercise of the copyright to the work;

the author transfers the original of an artistic or photographic work not yet made public:presenting the work to the public through exhibiting the original;

the copyright to author's cinematographic work belongs to the producer of the cinematographic work pursuant to the provisions of Article 29:making available or presenting the work to the public through the exercise of the copyright to the work.

In a case set forth in one of the following items, the author is presumed to consent to the action set forth in the relevant item:

the author makes available a work not yet made public to an administrative organ (meaning an administrative organ provided for in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs (Act No. 42 of 1999; hereinafter referred to as "the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information")) (unless the author manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to disclose it under the provisions of Article 9, paragraph (1) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information):making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the administrative organ, pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information (if historical public records and archives (meaning historical public records and archives provided for in Article 2, paragraph (6) of the Public Records and Archives Management Act (Act No. 66 of 2009; hereinafter referred to as "the Public Records Management Act"); the same applies hereinafter) pertaining to that work are transferred from the head of an administrative organ to the National Archives of Japan, etc. (meaning the National Archives of Japan, etc. provided for in Article 2, paragraph (3) of the Public Records Management Act; the same applies hereinafter) pursuant to the provisions of Article 8, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act (unless the author of the work manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to permit the use of that work under the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act), this includes making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc. (meaning the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc. provided for in Article 15, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act; the same applies hereinafter), pursuant to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act);

the author makes available a work not yet made public to an incorporated administrative agency, etc. (meaning an incorporated administrative agency, etc. provided for in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Act on Access to Information Held by Incorporated Administrative Agencies (Act No. 140 of 2001; hereinafter referred to as "the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information"); the same applies hereinafter) (unless the author manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to disclose it under the provisions of Article 9, paragraph (1) of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information):making available or presenting the work to the public by the incorporated administrative agency, etc., pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information (if historical public records and archives pertaining to that work are transferred from that incorporated administrative agency, etc. to the National Archives of Japan, etc. pursuant to the provisions of Article 11, paragraph (4) of the Public Records Management Act (unless the author of the work manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to permit the use of that work under the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act), this includes making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc., pursuant to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act);

the author makes available a work not yet made public to a local government agency or local incorporated administrative agency (unless the author manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of a decision to make a disclosure):making available or presenting the work to the public by an organ of the relevant local government agency or the relevant local incorporated administrative agency, pursuant to the provisions of information disclosure ordinance (meaning ordinance of local government agencies prescribing the right of a resident, etc. to request that local government agency or a local incorporated administrative agency to disclose the information it holds; the same applies hereinafter) (if historical public records and archives pertaining to that work are transferred from the local government agency or local incorporated administrative agency to the local archives, etc. (meaning facilities provided for by public records management ordinance (meaning ordinance of local government agencies prescribing the appropriate preservation and use of historical public records held by that local government agency or by a local incorporated administrative agency; the same applies hereinafter) as facilities for the appropriate preservation and use of historical public records and archives; the same applies hereinafter) pursuant to public records management ordinance (unless the author of that work manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to permit the use of the work under the provisions of public records management ordinance (limited to provisions equivalent to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act; the same applies hereinafter in this Article)), this includes making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the local archives, etc. (meaning the head of the local government agency to which the local archives, etc. belongs, if the local archives, etc. are the facility of a local government agency facility; or the local incorporated administrative agency by which the local archives, etc. was established, if the local archives, etc. are the facility of a local incorporated administrative agency; the same applies hereinafter), pursuant to the provisions of public records management ordinance);

the author makes available a work not yet made public to the National Archives of Japan, etc. (unless the author manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to permit the use of that work under the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act):making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc. pursuant to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act;

the author makes available a work not yet made public to the local archives, etc. (unless the author manifests an intention to the contrary by the time of the decision to permit the use of that work under the provisions of public records management ordinance):making available or presenting the work to the public by the head of the local archives, etc. pursuant to the provisions of public records management ordinance.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply in any of the following cases:

a work not yet made public in which information provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or (c) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information has been recorded is made available or presented to the public by the head of an administrative organ pursuant to the provisions of that Article, or a work not yet made public is made available or presented to the public by the head of an administrative organ pursuant to the provisions of Article 7 of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information;

a work not yet made public in which information provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or (c) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information has been recorded is made available or presented to the public by an incorporated administrative agency, etc. pursuant to the provisions of that Article, or a work not yet made public is made available or presented to the public by an incorporated administrative agency, etc. pursuant to the provisions of Article 7 of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information;

a work not yet made public (limited to a work in which information equivalent to that provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information has been recorded) is made available or presented to the public by a local government agency or by a local incorporated administrative agency pursuant to the provisions of information disclosure ordinance (limited to those with provisions equivalent to Article 13, paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information; the same applies in item (v));

a work not yet made public (limited to a work in which information equivalent to that provided for in Article 5, item (i), (c) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information has been recorded) is made available or presented to the public by a local government agency or by a local incorporated administrative agency pursuant to the provisions of the Information Disclosure Regulations;

a work not yet made public is made available or presented to the public by a local government agency or by a local incorporated administrative agency pursuant to the provisions of information disclosure ordinance that are equivalent to the provisions of Article 7 of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information;

a work not yet made public in which information provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or (c) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information or information provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or (c) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information has been recorded is made available or presented to the public by the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc. pursuant to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) the Public Records Management Act;

a work not yet made public (limited to a work in which information equivalent to that provided for in Article 5, item (i), (b) or the proviso to Article 5, item (ii) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information has been recorded) is made available or presented to the public by the head of the local archives, etc. pursuant to the provisions of public records management ordinance (limited to ordinance with provisions equivalent to Article 18, paragraphs (2) and (4) of the Public Records Management Act);

a work not yet made public (limited to a work in which information equivalent to that provided for in Article 5, item (i), (c) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information has been recorded) is made available or presented to the public by the head of the local archives, etc. pursuant to the provisions of public records management ordinance.

The author of a work has the right to decide whether to use the author's true name or pseudonym to indicate the name of the author on the original work or in connection with the work at the time it is made available or presented to the public, or to decide that the author's name will not be indicated in connection with that work. The same applies with regard to how the name of the author of the original work appears at the time any derivative work derived from it is made available or presented to the public.

Unless the author has manifested a different intention, a person exploiting a work may indicate the name of the author in accordance with how the author has already done so in connection with the work.

The name of the author may be omitted if it is found that doing so is unlikely to harm the interests of the author in a claim to authorship, in light of the purpose of the work and the circumstances of its exploitation, provided that the omission is compatible with fair practices.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply in any of the following cases:

the work is made available or presented to the public by the head of an administrative organ or by an incorporated administrative agency, etc., a local government agency, or a local incorporated administrative agency pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information, the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information, or information disclosure ordinance, and the name of the author is indicated in accordance with how the author has already done so on that work;

the work is made available or presented to the public by the head of an administrative organ or by an incorporated administrative agency, etc., a local government agency, or a local incorporated administrative agency pursuant to the provisions of Article 6, paragraph (2) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information, the provisions of Article 6, paragraph (2) of the Act on Access to Incorporated Administrative Agencies' Information, or the provisions of information disclosure ordinance that are equivalent to the provisions of Article 6, paragraph (2) of the Act on Access to Administrative Organs' Information, and it is a case in which the name of the author is to be omitted;

the work is made available or presented to the public by the head of the National Archives of Japan, etc. or the head of the local archives, etc. pursuant to the provisions of Article 16, paragraph (1) of the Public Records Management Act or the provisions of public records management ordinance (limited to provisions equivalent to the relevant paragraph of the Public Records Management Act) and the name of the author is indicated in accordance with how the author has already done so on that work.