A strategic vision and plan for intellectual property

 ■ A strategic vision and plan for intellectual property

The Prime Minister’s office has an Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, whose members are the Prime Minister and his ministers. This body, in which I participated as chair, set out both a strategic vision and a concrete plan for intellectual property.

The main thrust is as follows:

1. Fostering human resources

Fostering human resources for intellectual property and Cool Japan

2. Promoting prospective creation

A content-creation ecosystem.

Strengthening anti-piracy measures

3. Design of new fields

Strengthening the strategy for new information materials such as data and AI

Constructing a copyright system

The four points that I think need to be reviewed are as follows:

1) The use of the Professional University System was raised as part of “Fostering human resources for intellectual property and Cool Japan.”

The Professional University System, which places importance on collaboration with the private sector, is about to begin. The Japan Electronics College, which I set up, is part of this. Let’s make use of these institutions.

2) Creating an environment for the development of E-sports was raised as part of  establishing “a content-creation ecosystem.”

The Government has recognized the meaning of E-sports, just as the sector is finally reaching lift-off velocity in Japan. It is significant that it has situated the sector as a target for development. 

3) A clear statement of policy to prevent pirating sites

We are considering anti-piracy measures in a comprehensive manner. The Government decided upon emergency measures for blocking sites as part of anti-piracy measures, but this has stirred up a debate into the pros and cons. The situation has moved on significantly in that there have been advances in preventing ad revenues as a result of problematic sites not being visible any more. As such, blocking of the problem has not proceeded. This has led to a situation where things have advanced to the next stage of countermeasures.

4) It was noted that there would be consideration of how to construct a framework for the management of copyright and the allocation of profits through the use of blockchain technology. Policy on the distribution and use of copyright materials has been overly reliant on the Copyright Act, but there may be a shift to a technology-led stance. This is an important milestone.

I made three comments at the meeting.

1) There have been moves to put the intellectual property plan into action now that this Diet has passed partial amendments to the Copyright Act (to bring it into line with the internet age) and the School Education Act (to create a system for digital textbooks). There have also been results in the global expansion of content.

2) After the decision on emergency measures against piracy websites in April, we have seen such problematic sites disappear and a commensurate increase in general awareness of  the problem. I think we should quickly set up a task force and work towards additional countermeasures.

3) However, new issues such as Society 5.0 and the SDGs call for changes to the intellectual property strategy. Coordination between intellectual property policy and IT policy is also becoming more important. I look forward to these policies being refined based upon the vision we have set out on this occasion.

Attending ministers made some important points about creating a data distribution environment, strengthening anti-piracy measures and implementation of the new legal framework for copyright. Data distribution and anti-piracy measures are amongst the many intellectual property issues that must be tackled across the boundaries of Government departments. I look forward to seeing concerted efforts by the cabinet.