In litigation involving the infringement that may harm business interests through unfair competition, the court may, on the motion of a party, order the other party to submit any documents or electronic or magnetic records necessary to prove the act of infringement or calculate the amount of loss or damage caused by the infringement; provided, however, that this does not apply if the holder of the documents or a person with the authority to use the electronic or magnetic records has reasonable grounds to refuse submission.
If the court finds it necessary for determining whether or not the documents or electronic or magnetic records subject to the motion under the main clause of the preceding paragraph fall within the scope of documents or electronic or magnetic records referred to in the main clause of the same paragraph or whether or not there are reasonable grounds as provided in the proviso of the same paragraph, the court may have the holder of the documents or a person with the authority to use the electronic or magnetic records present those documents or electronic or magnetic records to the court. In this case, no person may request the disclosure of the presented documents or electronic or magnetic records.
In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the court finds it necessary to disclose the documents or electronic or magnetic records referred to in the second sentence of the preceding paragraph and to hear opinions with regard to whether or not the documents or electronic or magnetic records subject to the motion under the main clause of paragraph (1) fall within the scope of documents or electronic or magnetic records referred to in the main clause of the same paragraph or whether or not there are reasonable grounds as provided in the proviso of the same paragraph, the court may disclose the documents or electronic or magnetic records to the parties, etc. (meaning the parties (or if a party is a corporation, its representative) or the parties' agents (excluding counsel or assistants in court), employees, or other workers; the same applies below), their counsel, or their assistants in court.
In the case referred to in paragraph (2), if the court finds it necessary to disclose the documents or electronic or magnetic records as provided in the latter sentence of paragraph (2) and hear an explanation based on expert knowledge, the court may disclose the documents or electronic or magnetic records to a technical advisor as provided in Part I, Chapter V, Section 2, Subsection 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 109 of 1996), with the consent of the parties.
The provisions of the preceding paragraphs apply mutatis mutandis to the presentation of the objective of an inspection that is necessary to prove the act of infringement in litigation involving infringement that may harm business interests through unfair competition.