|
Copyright laws protect original works of authorship. The Copyright Law gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce his or her work (Article 21), so you must obtain permission from the copyright owner to copy, distribute, display or perform a copyrighted work in any medium for any purpose.
The length of the term can depend on several factors, including the type of work (e.g. musical composition, novel), whether the work has been published or not, and whether the work was created by an individual or a corporation (Article 51-60).
Copyright Research & Information Center posts copyright duration charts
for published and unpublished literary, dramatic and musical works, artistic
works copyright at Copyright Research and Information Center (CRIC JP).
Copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years in general, but the term of the copyright for a particular work
depends on several factors as follows:
| Type of work |
Copyright term |
| Published works |
・50 years after its author’s death |
| Anonymous or pseudonymous works |
・50 years after publication
・50 years after its author’s death |
| Works copyrighted by corporate body |
・50 years after publication
・50 years from its creation(if it has remained unpublished) |
| Cinematographic works |
・70 years from release
・70 years from its creation(if it has remained unpublicized) |
* Copyright expires if there are no heirs exist.
* Terms of protection should be calculated from the first day of January of the year following the relevant events, such as the author's death, publication or creation of a work.
As under the copyright law (Article.30-49), reproducing works without asking permission to copyright
holders can be done in the certain scope of the non-commercial purpose (See Q4)
Libraries are authorized to photocopy as follows:
- Copying the Library materials only
Copying any materials not belonging to the collection may not be photocopied on the self-service copiers in the Library.
- A single copy of a part of copyrighted books (half of work at the maximum)
e.g. up to 50 pages out of a book of 100
- An article in a periodical/a newspaper(serial publication) which is NOT just-issued
It is required that the "considerable period of time" passed since its issue. The length of time is interpreted as follows:
・3 months from it was issued
・After the next issue has been published
- Copying for non-commercial research or private study
- Making multiple copies of works repeatedly and rephotocopying should be avoided.
The copyright law of Japan (Article 31) governs the making of photocopies of copyrighted material
in libraries. They should make sure that photocopying is done properly under the copyright law. Whoever wants to photocopy the
materials in the Library must fill in the form in the copier room, and submit to a counter. The procedure is necessary to protect
the rights accorded to the copyright holders. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
|