Legal Updates

【Copyright Act ★】A case in which, with respect to a slide named “ミニタコ (Minitako)” which is a type of playground equipment imitating the shape of an octopus produced by the appellant (the plaintiff in the first instance) for parks, the Court denied copyrightability thereof as either artistic or architectural work.

Intellectual Property High Court Decision of December 8, 2021 (Case No. 2021 [Ne] 10044―Presiding Judge Ichiro OTAKA)   ◆Main text of the case   【Summary of the Judgment】 1. Regarding copyrightability of artistic works (1) The Plaintiff’s Slide is produced to be used for practical purposes as playground equipment. It is construed that even a work […]

【Copyright Act ★】A case in which, with respect to a slide named “ミニタコ (Minitako)” which is a type of playground equipment imitating the shape of an octopus produced by the plaintiff for parks, the Court denied copyrightability thereof as either artistic or architectural work.

Tokyo District Court Decision of April 28, 2021 (Case No. 2019 [Wa] 21993―Presiding Judge Takafumi KOKUBU)   ◆Main text of the case   【Summary of the Judgment】 1. Regarding copyrightability of artistic works (1) The slide produced by the plaintiff (the “Plaintiff’s Slide”) is an aesthetic creation (a so-called work of applied art) expected to be […]

【Copyright Act ★】 A case in which the Court adopted the separability theory with respect to copyrightability of applied art, and denied, based on said theory, copyrightability of a posture keeping tool.

The Intellectual Property High Court Decision of June 29, 2021 (Case No. 2021 (Ne) 10024 — Presiding Judge Yoshiyuki MORI)   ◆Main text of the case   【Summary of the Judgment】 1.　Regarding copyrightability of applied art Although there are no express provisions in the Copyright Act, it is construed that even an industrial product for […]

【Copyright★★】A case in which the Court found that with respect to a performance of a musical work by a teacher during music lessons at a music school, a business operator which runs the music school is considered as the subject entity who gives the musical performance, however, with respect to a performance of a musical work at the music school by a student, the subject entity who gives the performance of the musical work is not the business operator, but the student.

The Intellectual Property High Court Decision of March 18, 2021 (Case No. 2020 [Ne] 10022―Presiding Judge KANNO)   ◆Main text of the cases   【Summary of the Judgment】 1. Regarding musical performances by teachers (1) Regarding the subject entity who gives a musical performance When determining the subject entity who gives a performance of a musical […]

【Copyright★★】A case in which the Court found that the plaintiff’s work titled “Message” is recognized as having copyrightability mainly in that a phone receiver of a public telephone is fixed in the state of being taken off the hook and floating in water, and bubbles are generated from the receiver, and that the defendant’s work has commonalities with the plaintiff’s work in all of the parts that contain creative expressions, and the defendant’s work is made in dependence upon the plaintiff’s work; therefore, the defendant’s work is a reproduction or adaptation of the plaintiff’s work.

Osaka High Court Decision of January 14, 2021 (Case No. 2019 [Ne] 1735―Presiding Judge Yozo YAMADA)   【Summary of the Judgment】 Regarding Requirements for Copyright Protection In order to receive protection as a copyrighted work under the Copyright Act, a work (i) is required not to be “thought or sentiment” itself, but to be an […]

Outline of 2020 Amendments to the Copyright Act and Act on Special Provisions for the Registration of a Computer Program Work (Supplement)

Ⅰ. Background of Amendment The Act Partially Amending the Copyright Act and the Act on Special Provisions for the Registration of a Computer Program Work (Act No. 48 of 2020) was enacted on June 5, 2020, and promulgated on June 12, 2020. The main points of the amendments and the dates of enforcement are as […]

【Copyright Act ★★★】 A case in which, with respect to a tweet posted on Twitter using a photographic image which was an unauthorized copy of a photograph taken by a photographer and posted on his own website with his name displayed, the Supreme Court found that there is infringement by the user of Twitter who retweeted the tweet containing the photographic image of the photographer’s right to determine the indication of an author’s name on the grounds that as a result of retweeting the tweet the photographic image was trimmed due to system specifications of Twitter and displayed on timelines, causing the photographer’s name to disappear, and acknowledged the photographer’s demand against Twitter, Inc. for disclosure of email addresses of the user of Twitter who retweeted the tweet.

Decision of the Supreme Court, 3rd Petty Bench, July 21, 2020 (Case No. 2018 (Ju) 1412—Presiding Judge TOKURA)   ◆ Main text of the case   【Summary of the Judgment】 The phrase “the work…is made available or presented to the public” under Article 19, Paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act (which provides for the right of […]

Outline of 2020 Amendments to the Copyright Act and Act on Special Provisions for the Registration of a Computer Program Work

I. Background of Amendment The Act Partially Amending the Copyright Act and the Act on Special Provisions for the Registration of a Computer Program Work (Act No. 48 of 2020) was enacted on June 5, 2020, and promulgated on June 12, 2020. The main points of the amendments and the dates of enforcement are as […]

【Copyright Act ★】 A case in which the Court found that, with respect to a photographic work whose subject is a pair of penguins, each one of the penguin pictures in the work can be considered to be independently copyrightable, and affirmed that acts of reproducing and transmitting publicly the respective pictures of the two penguins separately constitute infringements of copyrights of the respective penguin pictures.

The Intellectual Property High Court Decision of December 26, 2019 (Case No. 2018 (Ne) 10048 — Presiding Judge Otaka)   ◆ Main text of the case 【Summary of the Judgment】 In the case of reproducing part of a work in a physical form, if such part contains creative expressions and can be considered to be […]

The Copyright Act revised in 2018 will further improve the machine learning environment in Japan.

The amendment of the Copyright Act, which was enacted in the ordinary session of the Diet in 2018 and came into force on January 1, 2019, is the largest amendment of the Copyright Act in recent years.   Among the various revisions, the most notable point is that the following were stipulated as the “development […]

Copyrightability of Applied Arts in TRIPP TRAPP Appeal Case

On April 14, 2015, the 2nd Division of the IP High Court rendered a decision as to whether a famous high chair for children named “TRIPP TRAPP” is protected under the Japanese Copyright Law. This decision set a new standard as to the copyrightability of applied arts. Up to this decision, Japanese courts have required […]