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Japan Reinforces Copyright Law
for 2010 |
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Effective January
2010, several amendments to the current copyright law will go
into effect. There are several clauses included in the revision,
but the two main issues are 1) the illegal downloading of
copyrighted material, 2) legalization of internet search engine
caches.
As
for the first amendment, it will no longer be legal to download copyrighted
material without the permission of the copyright holder. The current law
allows downloading for personal use. However, starting January 2010, the
amendment will modify Article 30 of the Copyright Law to remove this clause
making both downloading for business and personal use illegal. However,
since there are no penalty clauses attached to this revision, the efficacy
of this new legislation is questionable.
As
for the second amendment, search engine caches and data backup caches will
become legal. Although the current law is unclear in this respect, starting
January 2010, search engines will be given license to scan and index
internet contents without being charged with a copyright violation.
(Posted December 17,
2009)
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