Three questions regarding copyright

　At the symposium hosted by Copyright Research and Information Center (CRIC). Here are the three points that I discussed.

◯Countermeasures for pirated versions?

　What to do about the overseas deployment of contents is an important issue at the Intellectual Property Headquarters and in the strategy of Cool Japan.

　Countermeasures for pirated versions as a defensive is also a government theme, and the countermeasures of CODA are also becoming tough. However, the question of “Are they on the offensive?” is more important. The export from contents industry is on the decline. From 2006 to 2011, there was a 10% reduction in movies, 20% in games, and 30% in broadcasting.

　Enforcement is important in the countermeasures for pirated versions. Hollywood develops and sells official versions with Chinese companies, so the Chinese government tries to abide by that. It is the defensive attitude by attacking. In this point, how much are the Japanese companies on the offensive?

◯What do you think about the change of copyright offense not requiring complaint for prosecution?

　Hatsune Miku won the first place in an international poll for the artist that people want as the singer at the London Olympics opening ceremony. This is because everyone on Niconico nurtured her. This is the strength of Japan. Japan’s strategy is to grow UGC (User Generated Contents) and derivative work.

　In 2013, the Japanese government made an important decision. It placed UGC as one of the top items of “Intellectual Property Vision.” They shifted the focus from developing the contents industry to user creation. One more thing, at the beginning of “Pop Culture Group Discussion” proposal, they set “With everyone” as the core of Cool Japan policy. It means they recognize the importance of the power of fans and users as well as creators and businesses.

　When copyright offense does not require a complaint for prosecution, it is in conflict with the above. It is an important arguing point in TPP. (After the TPP agreement, Japan decided to introduce copyright offense that does not require a complaint. The issue becomes what to do with the domestic system.)

◯What to do with archives?

　The discussion progressed in the government as well. We need an infrastructure that demonstrates soft power toward Tokyo Olympics. We need a knowledge infrastructure for digital education. The target year is 2020 in each case.

　We want to archive various genres of data. However, the challenge is that the genres are in gradations. Cultural assets, publishing, and broadcasting have the challenge of promoting the use of archive, and a connected search system is necessary for those. The archive needs to be created for movies, manga, anime, and games first.

　On the system side, orphan work is the important theme. The other is creating the business model. How can we supply people and money for a sustainable operation? However, the bigger issue is whether we tackle this seriously as a nation, and if we can endure it for 10-20 years. The decision is being called into question.