Estados Unidos de América

Japón

Derecho de autor y derechos conexos

[Follow-up question] Please describe how Articles 33 and 34 of the Japanese copyright law have been strictly interpreted so as to bring them within the permissible limitations on rights set forth in Berne Articles 9 and 10 and TRIPS Article 13. In particular, has the text of these Articles of Japanese law been limited in operation or application in any way, such as by considering the amount that can be copied, the availability of a license from the rightholder, the intended purpose of the work, or the specific nature of the use?

Both Articles 33 and 34 stipulate the limitation on the permissible use to be "to the extent deemed necessary for the purpose of school education". For example, reproducing or broadcasting a large number of works of the same author or reproducing or broadcasting the whole range of a work (for example, a whole novel) is not deemed necessary. Attention should be drawn to the fact that the permissible reproduction under Article 33 can be done only for school textbooks authorized by the Ministry of Education. In the Japanese school education system, it is required that all textbooks be checked and authorized by the Ministry of Education, and therefore, the "school textbook" in this Article does not mean all books used at school. This means that there is a qualitative limitation in such cases. Also, all textbooks are purchased and given to all elementary and lower secondary school students by the Ministry of Education, which means that there is a quantitative limitation. As to the broadcasting programmes or wire diffusion programmes for school education stipulated in Article 34, attention should be paid to the fact that the permissible broadcastings under Article 34 are those which conform to the national curriculum standard established in detail by the Ministry of Education. Therefore, this Article does not allow all broadcasting for school education so the range of the application of this Article is very limited.