The dynamics of generative AI is rapidly evolving with billions of dollars investments from mega tech firms, corporations, and start-ups and the article discusses the legal consensus surrounding Japan’s copyright regime governing generative AI businesses and copyright creators and owners as reported by Japan’s copyright regulatory authority. The article also outlines the scope of the copyright infringement liability exception for machine learning and data text mining in Japan and will discuss the application of that Japanese copyright infringement exception to a set of hypothetical facts that are extracted from a recent pending US multimillion dollar music recording industry copyright infringement lawsuit and conclude with brief comparative law overview of the generative AI copyright infringement situation in the US, Europe, UK and Japan.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Junko Asai, Kosuke Masuda and John A. Tessensohn

The article discusses a landmark Grand Panel IP High Court of Japan decision which found that the unauthorised production of a system that comprised of utilizing a server located outside Japan and user terminals located within Japan constituted patent infringement of a Japanese computer-implemented invention. The IPHCJ adopted a pragmatic pro-patentee and coherent approach for dealing with crossborder patent infringement situations for computer implemented inventions involving the internet and related digital technologies, where the commercial and business activities span territorial borders.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Arisa Ikeda, Akito Honda and John A. Tessensohn

Japan has become very interested in the use of generative AI tools and services like ChatGPT at all levels of society including the national and local governments, business, industry, education, and the like. This article will examine the Japanese position of ChatGPT on patent and copyright ownership, validity, infringement liability, trade secrets, privacy and data protection issues. The authors also outline the best practices that enterprises doing business in Japan should adopt when using generative AI tools and services like ChatGPT in its business operations in the world’s third largest national economy. It also highlights the fast-breaking regulatory contributions that Japan is making at a national level and its current leadership role in formulating generative AI’s regulatory framework on a global basis.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Masahiro Hashimoto, Akito Honda and John A. Tessensohn

Japan has a robust regulatory framework, consistent with other major market jurisdictions, to prevent unfair competition, misleading advertising, deceptive packaging and the like, and this article discusses a 2023 enforcement action taken against a large established Japanese beverage company that had marketed its juice product with the tag line “100% Melon Taste” when in reality it contained only 2% melon juice. Misleading advertising in Japan can also constitute an act of unfair competition in private civil litigation in Japan in addition to being a regulatory compliance matter and in light of several notable enforcement actions taken the Japan Consumer Affairs Agency against several large Japanese enterprises, companies doing business in Japan should be examining the applicable advertising and unfair competition laws.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Kosuke Masuda and John A. Tessensohn

This article discusses Japan’s newly implemented affiliate advertising guidelines that will greatly strengthen online consumer protection and prevent product marketers, affiliate networks and affiliates that allegedly imitate news sites, make unsubstantiated advertising claims, and engage in deceptive advertising. The guidelines clarify advertisers’ responsibilities and require that advertisements be clearly labeled as such to make it easier to distinguish them from personal opinion or recommendations.

Kosuke Masuda, Kensaku Yamamoto and John A. Tessensohn

This article will discuss the application of the Japanese legal regulatory protection regime for children’s data privacy to a set of hypothetical facts that are extracted from an actual United States civil penalty data privacy enforcement action that resulted in a USD2 million dollar fine. The article will outline the possible regulatory exposure of companies that violate data privacy protection measures for children in Japan and suggests the children data protection best practices that companies could adopt when they are conducting business operations in Japan that collect, handle and manage such data from children.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Fumiaki Chida, K. Ishii and John A. Tessensohn

Cybercrimes, including ransomware attacks, have posed a clear and ever-present danger facing businesses in Japan, Europe, the US and almost anywhere in the world that has an internet connection over the past two decades. In view of the recent high-profile ransomware attacks against large international businesses, it is timely to understand the criminal, civil and regulatory legal landscape of a ransomware attack in Japan.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Kosuke Masuda, Kazuya Misaka and John A. Tessensohn

One of the toughest challenges facing an increasingly digitalized global economy is how to regulate and manage growing cross-border flows of personal information and data in Japan and the world. Japan’s most popular free messaging app LINE, which has over 86 million Japanese subscribers, reported a major data privacy incident in March 2021 and this article will review the incident in light of Japan’s statutory regulatory framework governing the collection, use, security and transfer of personal information and discuss the best practices that business operators should adopt so that it can properly walk the line in compliance with Japan’s personal information protection provisions.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Satoshi Namba, Akito Honda and John A. Tessensohn

Japanese copyright law recognizes the copyrightability of a work if said work possesses creative expressions that exhibit the personality of the author and the Osaka High Court decision in The Telephone Booth Goldfish Aquarium case reaffirms the this doctrine.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

Japan promulgated several new provisions to its Design Law on 17 May 2019 that came into effect on 1 April 2020. The changes were introduced to strengthen owners’ registered design rights in a modern economy, keeping pace with increasing digitization, changing consumer habits and evolving industrial design trends. This update covers two types of designs: graphic images and building interiors and exteriors, which became protectable under the April 2020 Law and were successfully registered by the Japan Patent Office (“JPO”) in October 2020.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

This article discusses some of the recent Japanese legislative and regulatory changes to its unfair competition, copyright and personal information protection laws that resulted from the rapid development and adoption of technologies such as internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) across all business, industrial and society in Japan.

Kensaku Yamamoto, Fumiaki Chida and John A. Tessensohn

Japan amended its Unfair Competition Prevention Law (“UCPL”) which came into effect on July 1, 2019. The revised UCPL is said to be the first law in the world which seeks to protect “big data” itself. The new law will consider the wrongful acquisition, use or provision of data that is protected by management system (e.g. IDs and passwords managing method) and provided to limited users as an act of unfair competition, and the UCPL will provide civil remedies to victims, e.g., rights to file a demand for an injunction or enjoy special treatments for compensation.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

The statutory changes to Japan's design law will ensure that owners are able to protect their design rights in a modern digital economy and also strengthen owners' registered design rights with a lengthened registration term and broader infringement rights.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

Japan is a pioneer in regulating such health labeling claims and its business-friendly regulatory approach is highlighted by the certification of the first ever beer-like nonalcoholic beverages for specified health use on February 18, 2015. This development is not surprising given the difficult economic climate and increasing health consciousness, beverage producers have worked to improve the image of carbonated drinks to boost sales, developing various sugar-free and zero-calorie offerings and developing nonalcoholic beer-like drinks with health benefits was inevitable.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

This article discusses the implications of the landmark Supreme Court decision dated Feb. 13, 2004, which confirmed that since racehorses are considered as "things" - not humans - they will have no publicity rights to prevent the unauthorised commercial use of their names and images. So the owners of such non-human objects can only protect the names, likenesses under the existing statutory legal regimes of Japanese trademark, copyright and other intellectual property laws.

John A. Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

Japan strongly protects authors' moral rights, namely, the right to control modification, right to control indication of authorship and right to control divulgence. These are two successful instances of enforcement of an author's moral rights, living and deceased, which show Japanese courts' increased willingness to protect intellectual property.

Shusaku Yamamoto and John A. Tessensohn