Copyright Act

In litigation involving infringement of the moral rights of an author, a copyright, print rights, the moral rights of performers, or neighboring rights, the court, at the petition of a party, may order a party to submit documents that are needed to prove the relevant act of infringement or to calculate the damage caused by the relevant act of infringement; provided, however, that this does not apply if the person in possession of such documents has just cause for refusing to submit them.

If the court finds it to be necessary in order to judge whether the just cause set forth in the proviso to the preceding paragraph is present, the court may have the person in possession of documents present such documents. In such a case, no person may request the disclosure of any document so presented.

In a case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the court finds that it is necessary to disclose a document referred to in the second sentence of the preceding paragraph and hear opinions with regard to whether the just cause provided for in the proviso to paragraph (1) is present, the court may disclose that document to the parties, etc. (meaning the parties (or if a party is a corporation, its representative), or the parties' agents (other than litigation representatives and assistants in court), employees, or any other worker; the same applies in Article 114-6, paragraph (1)), their litigation representatives, or their assistants in court.

The provisions of the preceding three paragraphs apply mutatis mutandis to the presentation of the object of any inspection that is necessary for proving the relevant act of infringement in litigation involving infringement of the moral rights of an author, a copyright, print rights, the moral rights of performers, or neighboring rights.

In litigation involving infringement of a copyright, print rights, or neighboring rights, if, at the petition of a party, the court orders an appraisal of particulars that are necessary for calculating the damage caused by the relevant act of infringement, the parties must explain the particulars necessary for such appraisal to be made to the appraiser.

When damage is found to have been incurred in litigation involving infringement of a copyright, print rights, or neighboring rights, if, due to the nature of the relevant facts, it is extremely difficult to prove the facts that are necessary for proving the amount of damage, the court may approve a reasonable amount of damage based on the overall gist of oral proceedings and the results of the examination of evidence.

In litigation involving infringement of the moral rights of an author, a copyright, print rights, the moral rights of a performer, or neighboring rights, if a prima facie showing of circumstances that fall under both of following is made with regard to a trade secret kept by a party (meaning a trade secret as provided in Article 2, paragraph (6) of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (Act No. 47 of 1993); the same applies hereinafter), the court, at the petition of the party, may issue a ruling ordering a party, etc., litigation representative, or assistant in court not to use the trade secret for purposes other than those of pursuing the relevant litigation, or not to disclose the trade secret to persons other than those that are subject to an order under the provisions of this paragraph that involves that trade secret; provided, however, that this does not apply if the party, etc., litigation representative, or assistant in court has acquired or gained possession of the relevant trade secret before the petition is filed, by means other than the perusal of the brief referred to in item (i) or the examination of evidence or disclosure referred to in that item:

a trade secret kept by a party is detailed in a brief that has already been submitted or that must be submitted, or a trade secret is included in the content of evidence that has already been examined or that must be examined (including documents disclosed pursuant to the provisions of Article 114-3, paragraph (3));

the use of the trade secret referred to in the preceding item for a purpose other than pursuing litigation or the disclosure of that trade secret would be likely to hinder the business activities of the party that are based on that trade secret, and it is necessary to restrict such use or disclosure in order to prevent such hindrance.

A petition for an order under the provisions of the preceding paragraph (hereinafter referred to as a "confidentiality protective order") must be filed in writing and detail the following particulars:

the person that would be subject to the confidentiality protective order;

facts sufficient to identify the trade secret that would be made the subject of the confidentiality protective order;

facts falling under the category of circumstances set forth in the items of the preceding paragraph.

If a confidentiality protective order has been issued, the written ruling must be served on the person that the confidentiality protective order has been issued against.

A confidentiality protective order comes into force as from the time at which a written ruling is served on the person that has become subject to the confidentiality protective order.

An immediate appeal against a ruling may be filed against a judicial decision denying a petition for a confidentiality protective order.

A person that petitions for a confidentiality protective order or a person that becomes subject to a confidentiality protective order may file a petition with the court that has cases record on file (if there is no such court, with the court that issued the order) to cancel the confidentiality protective order, on the grounds that any of the conditions referred to in paragraph (1) of the preceding Article are lacking or have come to be lacking.

Once the judicial decision is reached on a petition to cancel a confidentiality protective order, the written ruling must be served on the person that has filed the petition and on the adverse party.

An immediate appeal against a ruling may be filed against a judicial decision on a petition to cancel a confidentiality protective order.

A judicial decision canceling a confidentiality protective order does not take effect until it becomes final and binding.

If the court reaches a judicial decision to cancel a confidentiality protective order, and any person other than the person that has filed the petition to cancel the confidentiality protective order or the adverse party is subject to a confidentiality protective order involving the relevant trade secret in the litigation in which such confidentiality protective order was issued, the court must immediately notify such person that it has reached a judicial decision to cancel the confidentiality protective order.

In the event that the ruling provided for in Article 92, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 109 of 1996) is reached with regard to the case record in connection with litigation in which a confidentiality protective order has been issued (excluding litigation with regard to which all confidentiality protective orders have been cancelled), if a party requests to inspect, etc. a portion of the case record in which a secret provided for in that paragraph is entered, and the person filing such request is not subject to the confidentiality protective order in the relevant litigation, the court clerk, immediately after such request is filed, must notify the party that filed the petition referred to in that paragraph (excluding the person that filed the request; the same applies in paragraph (3)) that the request has been filed.

In a case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the court clerk must not allow the person filing the request to inspect, etc. a portion of cases record in which a secret as referred to in that paragraph is entered, until two weeks have passed since the day the court clerk receives the request (or if, during those two weeks, a petition for a confidentiality protective order is filed against the person filing the request, the court clerk must not allow the person filing the request to inspect, etc. such a portion of cases record until the judicial decision on the petition becomes final and binding).

The provisions of the preceding two paragraphs do not apply if all parties concerned that have filed a petition as referred to in Article 92, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure agree to allow the person filing the request referred to in paragraph (1) to inspect, etc. the portions of cases record in which the secrets referred to in that paragraph are entered.

An author or performer may file a claim against a person that, intentionally or due to negligence, has infringed that author's or performer's moral rights, demanding that that person take the appropriate measures to ensure that the author or performer is identified as the author or performer, to correct modifications to the work or performance, or to restore the author's or performer's honor or reputation, either in lieu of or in addition to claiming damages.

After the death of an author or performer, a surviving family member (meaning a surviving spouse, child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, or sibling of the deceased author or performer; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) may file the claim referred to in Article 112 against a person that violates or is likely to violate the provisions of Article 60 or Article 101-3 with respect to the relevant author or the performer, and may file the claim referred to in the preceding Article against a person that, intentionally or due to negligence, infringes the moral rights of the author or performer or violates the provisions of Article 60 or Article 101-3.

The order in which surviving family members are permitted to file the claim referred to in the preceding paragraph is the order in which they are listed in that paragraph; provided, however, that if the author or performer leaves a will stipulating a different order, the order given in the will applies.

An author or performer, in a will, may designate the person that is permitted to file the claim referred to in paragraph (1) on behalf of the surviving family members. In this case, the designated person may not file such a claim once 50 years have passed, counting from the year after that in which the author or performer dies (or, if surviving family members are still alive at such a time, the designated person may not file such a claim once there are no longer any surviving family members).

Any one co-author or copyright owner in a joint work may file the claim referred to in Article 112, claim that co-author's or co-owner's personal share of compensation for damage due to copyright infringement, or claim the return of the benefit of any unjust enrichment in accordance with that co-author's or co-owner's personal share, without the consent of the other co-authors or co-owners of the copyright.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis in connection with infringement of a copyright or neighboring rights in co-ownership.

The publisher of an anonymous or pseudonymous work may file the claim referred to in Article 112, Article 115, or Article 116, paragraph (1) or may claim damages or the return of the benefit of any unjust enrichment in that person's own name, on behalf of the author or the owner of the copyright to the work; provided, however, that this does not apply if the pseudonym is the name by which the author is commonly known or if the true name of the author has been registered as referred to in Article 75, paragraph (1).

A person whose true name or the pseudonym by which the person is commonly known is indicated in the customary manner on copies of an anonymous or pseudonymous work as the name of the publisher of the work is presumed to be the publisher of that work.