Copyright Act amendments suitable for the network age have materialized

 ■Copyright Act amendments suitable for the network age have materialized             

 Along with amendments to the School Education Law to recognize digital textbooks as legitimate textbooks, a reform bill for the Copyright Act has been passed in the Diet.

 There are two points to take note of with regard to the amendments to the Copyright Act.

1)Establishing flexible restrictions on rights that are compatible with the progress of digitization and the development of networks

　It is now possible to use works for services that make use of big data without permission. Some services where permission may currently be needed, such as location-search or data-analysis services, can now be used without permission.

2) Developing restrictions on rights compatible with the computerization of education

　Teachers are now able to send teaching material that they have created using others’ works to students’ devices through networks for teaching purposes without needing permission. Only a compensation payment is required.

These points are the result of the directions set in the IP headquarters, where I served as chairman, being turned into policy. Right holders, users, academia, and the political world have held discussions and made adjustments for many years; now there has finally been a cabinet decision and a submission in the Diet. I would like to give my sincere thanks to everyone involved, starting from the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

The IP plan clearly states that “we will take the necessary measures to allow for the speedy presentation of draft bills with regard to flexible rights restrictions under the Copyright Act”. With regard to computerization in education, it states that “we will take the new necessary measures to enable the smooth public transmission of works during lessons, including claim rights for compensation payments”.

Furthermore, the IP plan stated with regard to digital textbooks that “we will take the necessary measures to enable the approval of the use of published works within the necessary limits”; it was decided that this will be handled in a reform bill of the School Education Law, but it has also been actualized as a law at the same time.

Now that the laws have been handled, what is important now is the guidelines that we are looking for in the IP plan.

“Reviewing regulations on rights restrictions in order to promote innovation: we will take the necessary measures to formulate guidelines.” 

The Copyright Act only sets general matters in law, and leaves interpretation and usage up to right holders and users, allowing disputes to be settled in court. The extent of government intervention is low, and there are broad grey zones where judgment is difficult.

In particular, this amendment has been left abstract to a certain degree so that flexible action will be possible in future cases. As a result, it would be desirable to indicate prevailing interpretations through guidelines.

I believe it would be good for right holders, users, academia, and those involved in administration and justice to come together and set these guidelines.