Copyright Act

Copyrights may be transferred in whole or in part.

If a contract for the transfer of a copyright makes no particular reference to the rights set forth in Articles 27 and 28, these rights are presumed to be retained by the transferor.

Copyright expires in the following cases:

the author dies, and the copyright is to revert to the National Treasury pursuant to the provisions of Article 959 (Reversion of Residual Assets to the National Treasury) of the Civil Code (Act No. 89 of 1896);

the corporation that owns the copyright is dissolved, and the copyright is to revert to the National Treasury pursuant to the provisions of Article 239, paragraph (3) of the Act on General Incorporated Associations and General Incorporated Foundations (Act No. 48 of 2006) or the provisions of other similar Acts.

The provisions of Article 54, paragraph (2) apply mutatis mutandis when the copyright to a cinematographic work has expired pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

The copyright owner may grant another person authorization to exploit the work.

A person that obtains the authorization referred to in the preceding paragraph is entitled to exploit the work to which that authorization pertains within the scope of the manner and conditions of exploitation under that authorization.

A right of exploitation (meaning the right to exploit a work under the authorization referred to in paragraph (1) pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph; the same applies in the following Article) may not be transferred without the consent of the copyright owner.

Unless otherwise stipulated in a contract, the authorization referred to paragraph (1) in connection with the broadcasting or cablecasting of a work, does not include authorization to record the sound or visuals of the work.

If a person that may authorize another person (meaning authorization referred to in paragraph (1); hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph) to broadcast or cablecast a work or transmit a work via simultaneous broadcasting has authorized a specified broadcaster or cablecaster (meaning a broadcaster or cablecaster that undertakes simultaneous broadcasting in the course of trade, or supplies a broadcast program or cablecast program for simultaneous broadcasting undertaken in the course of trade by a simultaneous broadcasting service having a close relationship therewith, and, as a measure to publicize this fact, discloses information specified by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs as information concerning the status of implementation of simultaneous broadcasting, including the title of the broadcast program or cablecast program subject to simultaneous broadcasting and the broadcast or cablecast time of the program, by a method specified by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs; hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph) to exploit the work in broadcast or cablecast programming by the specified broadcaster or cablecaster, the authorization is presumed to include authorization to transmit the work via simultaneous broadcasting (including simultaneous broadcasting undertaken by a simultaneous broadcasting service that has a close relationship with the specified broadcaster or cablecaster by receiving the broadcast program or cablecast program supplied by the specified broadcaster or cablecaster), unless the person manifests an intention to the contrary upon granting the authorization.

The provisions of Article 23, paragraph (1) do not apply to a person that has obtained the authorization referred to in paragraph (1) to make a work available for transmission, making the work available for transmission repeatedly or using another automatic public transmission server to make the work available for transmission within the scope of the manner and conditions of exploitation under authorization (other than those that concern the number of times the work may be made available for transmission or the automatic public transmission server that may be used to make the work available for transmission).

A right of exploitation may be asserted against a person that has acquired the copyright for a work that is subject to the right of exploitation or any other third party.

The moral rights of co-authors of a joint work may not be exercised without the unanimous agreement of all the co-authors.

A co-author may not prevent the agreement referred to in the preceding paragraph from being reached in breach of good faith.

Co-authors may choose one co-author from among themselves to represent them in the exercise of their moral rights.

Limitations on the representative authority of the person representing the co-authors in the exercise of the rights referred to in the preceding paragraph may not be duly asserted against a third party that is without knowledge of those limitations.

The owner of a copyright to a joint work or any other jointly owned copyright (hereinafter in this Article referred to as a "joint copyright") is not entitled to transfer or pledge that share of the joint copyright without the consent of the other co-owners.

A joint copyright may not be exercised without the unanimous agreement of all the co-owners.

In a case referred to in the preceding two paragraphs, a co-owner may not, without justifiable grounds, refuse the consent referred to in paragraph (1) or prevent the agreement referred to in the preceding paragraph from being reached.

The provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the exercise of a joint copyright.

The copyright owner is entitled to exercise a copyright even if a pledge has been established with the copyright as its subject, unless otherwise stipulated in the act of establishing the pledge.

A pledge may be exercised with respect to money or any other thing the copyright owner would receive from the transfer of the copyright or the exploitation of the work (including consideration for the establishment of a print right); provided, however, that the attachment of the right to receive such things is required before their payment or transfer to the pledgee.

A person who intends to exploit a work that has been made public or a work that has clearly been made available or presented to the public for a considerable period of time (hereinafter in this Article and Article 67-3, paragraph (2) referred to as a "work made public, etc.") may, if all of the following items are satisfied, exploit that work made public, etc. in accordance with the compulsory license, after obtaining a compulsory license from the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and depositing for the copyright owner compensation in an amount fixed by the Commissioner as equivalent to the ordinary rate of royalties.

the person has taken the measures prescribed by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs as measures for obtaining right holder information (meaning the name or title and address or residence of the copyright owner and any other information necessary to contact the copyright owner; the same applies hereinafter in this item), and has been unable to contact the copyright owner even though the person has taken measures to contact the copyright owner on the basis of the right holder information obtained by those measures and all other right holder information in the person's possession.

it is not clear that the author intends to discontinue the publication or other exploitation of that work made public, etc.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the deposit under the preceding paragraph is not required if the national or local government or a corporation prescribed by Cabinet Order as being similar thereto (hereinafter referred to as the "national or local government or equivalent corporation" in this Section) seeks to exploit a work made public, etc. pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph. In such a case, if the national or local government or equivalent corporation becomes able to contact the copyright owner, it must pay compensation to the copyright owner in the amount established by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

A person who intends to obtain the compulsory license referred to in paragraph (1) (hereinafter in this Article and the following Article referred to as the "compulsory license") must submit to the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs a written application stating the title of the work subject to the compulsory license, the name of the author and other information necessary to identify the work, the method of exploiting the work, the matters that are to serve as the basis for calculating the amount of compensation, and any other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, attaching the following materials:

materials that make a prima facie showing that the work is a work made public, etc.

materials that make a prima facie showing that the work falls under each item of paragraph (1);

other materials specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in addition to those set forth in the preceding two items.

A person who intends to obtain a compulsory license must pay the national government a fee in an amount specified by Cabinet Order, taking actual costs into account; provided, however, that this does not apply if that person is the national government.

The following matters are to be fixed in a compulsory license:

the method of exploiting the work subject to that compulsory license;

other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in addition to that set forth in the preceding item.

When the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs is to make a disposition not to grant a compulsory license, the Commissioner must in advance notify the person who filed the application for the compulsory license (referred to as the "applicant" in the following paragraph and paragraph (1) of the following Article) of the reasons, and give that person an opportunity to explain and to submit favorable evidence.

In the cases set forth in the following items, the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs must notify the applicant of the matters prescribed respectively in those items:

when a compulsory license has been granted: the matters set forth in the items of paragraph (5) and the amount of compensation fixed for the exploitation of the work subject to the compulsory license;

when a disposition not to grant a compulsory license has been made: that fact and the reasons.

When a compulsory license has been granted, the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs must publicize that fact and the following matters through use of the Internet or other appropriate means:

the title of the work subject to that compulsory license, the name of the author, and other information necessary to identify the work;

the matters set forth in paragraph (5), item (i);

other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in addition to those set forth in the preceding two items.

The Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs may exploit the work subject to a compulsory license to the extent recognized as necessary for the publication under the preceding paragraph.

Copies of a work that have been made pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) must bear an indication that they have been made pursuant to a compulsory license, and give the date on which the compulsory license was issued.