JapanCopyright Act, quotation exception
Copyright Act, Act No. 48 of 1970, Art. 32
In force since .
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- You may quote and thereby exploit a work that has already been made public, without the rights holder's authorization, where the quotation is consistent with fair practice and stays within a scope justified for news reporting, critique, research or another purpose for which the work is quoted (Article 32(1)).
- Do not rely on a fixed word or length threshold for a headline or short extract of third-party journalism: this is the general ground on which it could be justified, and the standard is fair practice.
- Keep within that scope: a quotation exceeding it is copyright infringement, and Article 119(1) provides criminal penalties.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Quoting or otherwise exploiting a work beyond the fair-practice, purpose-justified scope Art. 32(1) permits is copyright infringement, punished by imprisonment with work for not more than ten years, a fine of not more than 10,000,000 yen, or both (Art. 119(1)).
Penalty structure
General copyright-infringement penalty under Art. 119(1); a quotation within Art. 32(1)'s fair-practice scope is not an infringement at all.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- JPY
- Fixed cap
- 10,000,000
What this law does
Article 32(1) permits quoting and thereby exploiting a work that has already been made public, provided the quotation is consistent with fair practice and stays within a scope justified for the purpose of news reporting, critique, research, or another purpose for which the work is quoted.
This is the general ground under which reproducing a headline or a short extract of third-party journalism could be justified without the rights holder's authorization; it is a fair-practice standard rather than a fixed word or length threshold. A quotation exceeding this scope is copyright infringement, punished under Art. 119(1) by imprisonment with work for not more than ten years, a fine of not more than 10,000,000 yen, or both.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
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