Estados Unidos de América

Japón

Derecho de autor y derechos conexos

4. Please explain whether and how Japan provides full retroactive protection to works, phonograms and performances from other WTO Members, as required by TRIPS Articles 9.1, 14.6 and 70.2, each of which incorporate by reference or rely upon Berne Article 18. Please give the date back to which such protection extends with respect to each category of subject matter.

The Government of Japan considers it desirable to provide a high level of protection for intellectual property rights and believes 50 year retroactive protection of the rights of performers and producers of phonograms (sound recordings) is appropriate. Therefore, a draft amendment to the Copyright Law is under preparation for submission to the Diet with a view to extending the period of retroactive protection for such rights to 50 years. As to the works originating in WTO Member countries, Japanese Copyright Law protects copyright in the work from its creation to the end of a 50-year period following the author's death. This protection covers, as of 1996, all works the author of which died in and after 1946.