Civil and criminal remedies are provided for in the Copyright Law as well as other relevant legislations as follows.
1. Civil Remedies
|
| (1) |
General Provisions for Civil Remedies (Civil Code) |
| (a) |
compensation for damages caused by unlawful acts |
| (2) |
Special Provisions for Copyright (Copyright Law) |
| (a) |
presumption of the amount of damages : |
| ① |
the amount obtained by multiplying the number of objects so transferred or the number of copies made of works or performances, etc. as result of reception by the public of such transmission, by the amount of profit per unit from such sale of objects as the owner of copyright, etc. could make if there was no such infringement, can be considered as equivalent to the amount of damages suffered by such owner |
| ② |
the profits obtained by the infringer is presumed to be the amount of the damage ; and |
| ③ |
the amount of the damage can be fixed considering party-and-party specific circumstances |
| (b) |
if the other party denies the actuality of objects which the author, the performer or the owner of copyright, right of publication or neighboring rights claims as those constituting such infringement or those made by an act of infringement, such party shall clarify the actuality of his acts |
| (c) |
system to enable the court to order the defendant to prepare and submit all necessary information and documents in order to identify the act of infringement or the amount of the damage |
| (d) |
the duty of the parties concerned to cooperate for authentication |
| (e) |
recovery of honour |
| (f) |
protection of the moral interests after the author's death |
| (g) |
special provisions for joint works |
| (h) |
special provisions for anonymous or pseudonymous works |
|
2. Criminal Remedies
|
| (1) |
Copyright Law |
| (a) |
imprisonment up to 10 years or fine up to 10 million yen, or both will be charged to:
penal sanctions against ordinary infringements (exempt reproduction for private use and exempt acts considered to be infringement (Art.113)): only upon the complaint of the injured person |
| (b) |
imprisonment up to 5 years, fine up to 5 million yen well be charged to: |
| · |
infringement of moral rights of authors and performers |
| · |
importation for distribution of goods made by an act infringing copyright, right of publication and neighboring rights, distribution or possession for distribution of them by a person who is aware of such infringement exportation or possession for exportation of them repeatedly |
| · |
the act of using illegal copies of computer program on a computer: |
| · |
providing automatic reproducing machines to the public for profit-making |
| (c) |
others |
| ① |
fine up to 5 million yen will be charged to: |
| · |
infringement of moral rights after the author's death |
| ② |
imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to 3 million yen, or both will be charged to: |
| · |
transferring to the public the ownership of, and manufacture, etc. of, a device having a principal function for the circumvention of technological protection measures |
| · |
removing or altering intentionally rights management information attached to the work etc. which identifies such as the name of the work and the rightholder: |
| ③ |
imprisonment up to 1 year or fine up to 1 million yen, or both will be charged to: |
| · |
distribution of copies with false name |
| ④ |
fine up to 500 thousand yen will be charged to: |
| · |
violation of the compulsory indication of sources |
| ⑤ |
imprisonment up to 5 years or fine up to 5 million yen will be charged to: |
| · |
violation against obligation to keep the secret |
| (d) |
fine up to 300 million yen will be charged to the leagal person in addition to the infringer |
| (2) |
Penal Code and other Criminal Legislations |
| (a) |
general provisions on procedures, etc. (including "forfeiture") |
|
3. Acts Considered as Infringements (Copyright Law)
|
 |
(a) |
the importation of objects into Japan for distribution which are produced by an act which would constitute an infringement if they were produced in Japan |
| (b) |
the distribution or the possession for distribution by a person who is aware of the infringement, repeated exportation or possession of exportation of objects produced by an act of infringement (the offer to distribute by the person who is aware of the infringement is also included) |
| (c) |
an act of using copies of a computer program on a computer in the conduct of business, which are produced by an act of infringement (so long as the user is aware of the infringement at the time when he has acquired an authority to use them) |
| (d) |
an act to remove or alter rights management information attached to the work etc. (which identifies such as the name of the work and the rightholder) |
| (e) |
an act of importing "Records distributed in foreign countries" (commercial musical records identical to "Records distributed in Japan" and purported for distribution solely outside Japan) into Japan for distribution in Japan, distributing them in Japan, or possessing them for the purpose of distribution in Japan by a person who is aware of such conditions, as long as such import causes damage to right owners' profit to be gained |
|
4. Border Measures and other Preventive Measures
|
| (1) |
Border Measures (Customs Tariff Law) |
|
① |
goods shall not be imported which infringe copyright and neighboring rights etc. |
| ② |
goods shall not be exported which infringe copyright and neighboring rights etc. |
| ③ |
the customs authorities shall confiscate and destroy such goods, or issue an order to reship to the importer |
| (2) |
Preventive Measures |
| Against those who infringe or are likely to infringe moral rights, copyright, right of publication, or neighboring rights, the authors as well as the owners of these rights may make a demand for cessation or prevention of such infringements. |
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