Copyright Act

It is permissible to exploit a work, in any way and to the extent considered necessary, in any of the following cases, or in any other case in which it is not a person's purpose to personally enjoy or cause another person to enjoy the thoughts or sentiments expressed in that work; provided, however, that this does not apply if the action would unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner in light of the nature or purpose of the work or the circumstances of its exploitation:

if it is done for use in testing to develop or put into practical use technology that is connected with the recording of sounds or visuals of a work or other such exploitation;

if it is done for use in data analysis (meaning the extraction, comparison, classification, or other statistical analysis of the constituent language, sounds, images, or other elemental data from a large number of works or a large volume of other such data; the same applies in Article 47-5, paragraph (1), item (ii));

if it is exploited in the course of computer data processing or otherwise exploited in a way that does not involve what is expressed in the work being perceived by the human senses (for works of computer programming, such exploitation excludes the execution of the work on a computer), beyond as set forth in the preceding two items.

In the following cases and as part of non-commercial undertakings at the National Diet Library or at a library or other facility specified by Cabinet Order whose purpose is to offer books, records, and other materials for the public to use (hereinafter referred to as a "library or similar facility" in this Article and Article 104-10-4, paragraph (3)), it is permissible for a person to reproduce a work from a book, record, or other material of the library or similar facility (hereinafter referred to in the following paragraph and paragraph (6) as a "library material"):

when providing a single user of the library or similar facility with a single copy of a part of a work that has been made public (or the whole of public relations materials, research or statistical materials, reports or any other similar works, which have been prepared by a national or local government agency, incorporated administrative agency, or local incorporated administrative agency with the goal of making them widely known to the general public, and have been made public under the authorship of such agency (referred to as a "publicity material of a national government agency, etc." in the following paragraph and paragraph (2) of the following Article) or any other work specified by Cabinet Order as a work for which there are special reasons for finding that making a copy of the whole of the work available would not unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner.) in response to the user's request and for the purpose of the user's research or studies;

when necessary for the purpose of preserving library materials;

when providing a copy of a library material that is difficult to obtain through normal trade channels because it is out of print or for a similar reason (hereinafter referred to as a "rare or out-of-print material" in this Article), in response to a request from another library or similar facility.

A specified library or similar facility may undertake the following actions as part of its non-commercial undertakings with regard to a part of a work that has been made public (or the whole of publicity materials of a national government agency, etc. or any other work specified by Cabinet Order as a work for which there are special reasons for finding that the transmission of a copy of the whole of the work to the public would not unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner) in response to the request of a user of the specified library or similar facility (limited to a user who has registered their name and contact information and any other information specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (referred to as "user information" in item (iii) of the following paragraph and paragraph (8), item (i)) with the specified library or similar facility in advance; the same applies in paragraph (4) and Article 104-10-4, paragraph (4)) and for the purpose of the user's research or studies; provided, however, that this does not apply if the relevant action would unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner in light of the nature of the work (including the status of implementation of a transmission to the public (excluding broadcast or cablecast; and including making a work available for transmission in cases of an automatic public transmission; hereinafter the same applies in this Article) of the work by the copyright owner, a person authorized thereby, a person in favor of whom the print rights set forth in Article 79 have been established, or a person authorized thereby to transmit that work to the public; the same applies in Article 104-10-4, paragraph (4)), the purpose of the work, or the circumstances of the transmission to the public made by the specified library or similar facility:

reproducing library materials as necessary for the transmission to the public as referred to in the following item; and

transmitting to the public the original or a copy of library materials (limited to such action undertaken by taking measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as measures to prevent or deter the making available or presentation of a work in an electronic or magnetic record (meaning a record used in computer data processing that is created in an electronic format, magnetic format, or other format that cannot be perceived with the human senses alone; the same applies hereinafter) prepared by receiving the transmission of the work to the public).

The specified library or similar facility provided for in the preceding paragraph means a library or similar facility which satisfies the following requirements:

it has a person responsible for properly implementing the functions related to the transmission to the public under the provisions of the preceding paragraph;

it provides its personnel engaged in the functions related to the transmission to the public under the provisions of the preceding paragraph with training for properly implementing these functions;

it takes necessary measures to properly manage user information;

it takes measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as necessary measures to prevent or deter information in an electronic or magnetic record prepared for the transmission to the public under the provisions of the preceding paragraph from being used for a purpose other than the purposes provided for in that paragraph; and

beyond what is set forth in the preceding items, it takes measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as necessary measures to properly implement the functions related to the transmission to the public under the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

A user of a specified library or similar facility who has received a work transmitted to the public pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) may reproduce the work to the extent that this is found to be necessary for using it for the purpose of their research or studies.

Upon transmitting a work to the public pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2), a person that establishes a specified library or similar facility provided for in paragraph (3) must pay the copyright owner of the work a reasonable amount of compensation.

In addition to cases set forth in the items of paragraph (1), if, either in order to prevent the loss, damage, or defacement of the original copy of a library material that the National Diet Library offers to the public, or in order to use a work that is associated with a rare or out-of-print material in an automatic public transmission (this includes making such a work available for transmission; the same applies in this Article) pursuant to the provisions of the following paragraph or paragraph (8), an electronic or magnetic record is created at the National Diet Library so that it can be offered for public use in place of the original, it is permissible for a person to record a work that is among the library materials of the National Diet Library onto a recording medium, to the extent considered necessary.

The National Diet Library may transmit a work that is associated with a rare or out-of-print material via automatic public transmission using a copy of that work that it has recorded onto a recording medium pursuant to the preceding paragraph, if the purpose of the transmission is to present the work to the public in a library or similar facility, or in a similar foreign facility as designated by Cabinet Order. In such a case, the library or similar facility may, as part of its non-commercial undertakings, undertake the following actions:

preparing a copy of the work that has been transmitted via automatic public transmission and making the copy available in response to the request of a user of the library or similar facility and to the extent that this is found to be necessary for the user to use it personally; and

publicly communicating the work that has been transmitted via automatic public transmission, through a receiver (limited to when the library or similar facility undertakes the action without any fee (meaning anything of value received in exchange for making available or presenting a work, regardless of what it is called; the same applies in paragraph (9), item (ii) and Article 38) from a person to whom the work is to be communicated).

If the following requirements are satisfied, the National Diet Library may transmit a work associated with a specified rare or out-of-print material via automatic public transmission (limited to such action undertaken by taking measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as measures to prevent or deter the work from being digitally reproduced by receiving the automatic public transmission; hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph and the following paragraph), using a copy of the work recorded onto a recording medium pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (6):

the automatic public transmission is intended for making the work available to the user who has registered their user information with the National Diet Library in advance (referred to as the "pre-registered user" in the following item); and

the National Diet Library has taken measures to identify the person who intends to receive the automatic public transmission as a pre-registered user at the time of receiving the automatic public transmission.

A person who has received the automatic public transmission under the provisions of the preceding paragraph may undertake the following actions:

reproducing the work that has been transmitted via automatic public transmission, to the extent that this is found to be necessary to use the work personally; and

publicly communicating the work that has been transmitted via automatic public transmission, through a receiver, in accordance with the requirements provided for in (a) or (b) below according to the category of cases set forth respectively in (a) or (b):

if the person displays the work in a size that is not larger than the size specified by Cabinet Order as the size that is equal to the display size applied in cases of inspecting the work personally or at home:the person undertakes the action for non-commercial purposes and without charging any fee from a person to whom the work is to be communicated; or

in cases other than cases set forth in (a):a facility offered for public use established by the national government, a local government, general incorporated association, general incorporated foundation or any other non-profit corporation, which has personnel equipped with knowledge in law necessary for properly communicating to the public a work that has been transmitted via automatic public transmission, undertakes the action for non-commercial purposes and without charging any fee from a person to whom the work is to be communicated.

The specified rare or out-of-print material referred to in paragraph (8) means a rare or out-of-print material relevant to a work recorded onto a recording medium under the provisions of paragraph (6), except for materials for which the Director General of the National Diet Library, upon the request of the copyright owner, a person authorized thereby, a person in favor of whom the print rights set forth in Article 79 have been established, or a person authorized thereby to reproduce the work or transmit the work to the public, has found that it is highly probable for the materials to cease to fall under the scope of rare or out-of-print materials within three months from the date of the request.

The request referred to in the preceding paragraph is to be made to the Director General of the National Diet Library by attaching materials to support a prima facie showing that it is highly probable for the rare or out-of-print material subject to the request to cease to fall under the scope of rare or out-of-print materials within three months from the date of the request.

It is permissible to quote and thereby exploit a work that has been made public. In such a case, the work must be quoted consistent with fair practices and within a scope that is justified for the purpose of news reporting, critique, study, or other place in which the work is quoted.

It is permissible for publicity materials of a national government agency, etc. to be reprinted as explanatory materials in a newspaper, magazine, or other printed publication; provided, however, that this does not apply if it is expressly indicated that this is prohibited.