Post Tagged with: "Japan"

Japan Considering Copyright Term Extension, Canada Next?

The Japanese government is reportedly considering extending its term of copyright protection from the international standard of life plus 50 years to life plus 70 years as required by drafts of the Trans Pacific Partnership. The issue seems likely to similarly arise in Canada, which also maintains a life plus […]

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July 15, 2013 9 comments News

Reports Indicate Japan Ratifies ACTA

Reports indicate that Japan has ratified the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Japan had positioned itself as a leading proponent of the treaty, hosting the final round of negotiations and the official signing a year later.

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September 6, 2012 3 comments News

Japan To Sign ACTA This Weekend

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it will sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. ACTA is open for signature until May 2013.

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September 27, 2011 5 comments News

Japan Wanted Canada Out of Initial ACTA Group

Wikileaks posted several new ACTA cables earlier this month (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).  Much of the commentary has focused on how the U.S. envisioned using ACTA to pressure developing countries.  For example, one cable – which suggests that ACTA could be concluded in 2006 (a year before negotiations were even announced) – states:

Arai stressed that we should move as fast as possible and keep in mind that the intent of the agreement is to address the IPR problems of third-nations such as China, Russia, and Brazil, not to negotiate the different interests of like-minded countries.  The new agreement could serve as a yardstick for measuring the market economy status of countries such as China and Russia. 

Another cable includes commentary on specifically excluding other international organizations, with the USTR stressing that the G8 or OECD “might make it more difficult to construct a high-standards agreement.”

From a Canadian perspective it is worth noting that the Japanese proposed keeping Canada out of the initial negotiating group. 

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February 25, 2011 7 comments News

Japan Moves Closer to Fair Use

Add Japan to the list of countries seemingly ready to move to a system that includes fair use.  Reports indicate that a government advisory panel has approved “a plan to tolerate the unlicensed use of copyrighted works unless the use unduly infringes on the interest of the copyright holder.”

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December 16, 2010 Comments are Disabled News