What Can We Learn from Japanese Anime Industries? The Differences between the Domestic and Oversea Copyright Protection Strategies Towards Fan Activities

34 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2014 Last revised: 14 Mar 2019

See all articles by Tianxiang He

Tianxiang He

School of Law, City University of Hong Kong; City University of Hong Kong (CityU) - Centre for Chinese & Comparative Law

Date Written: Feburary 2, 2014

Abstract

Recently the Japanese government revised its copyright law, and one of the major changes in it is that illegal downloaders in Japan now face up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of ¥2 million (approximately US$19,265), or a combination of the two for downloading certain kinds of copyrighted content. These momentous changes have triggered backlashes around the country from below, as might be expected. Interestingly, the industrial practices of Japanese content industries have developed certain domestic and foreign copyright-related strategies that tolerate some alleged copyright-infringing fan activities.

This paper argues that, although some of these strategies are incompatible with the current copyright law regime, and specifically the aforementioned revision to Japan’s copyright law, they have unconsciously created unexpected positive outcomes. This paper uses an integrative approach that combines market analysis and comparative law methods — to examine these copyright strategies, and proposes an alternative solution to deal with the copyright problems raised by fan-based activities.

Keywords: Copyright, Fan-based Activities, Derivative Works, Fair Use Doctrine, Creative Commons, No Action Policies

Suggested Citation

He, Tianxiang and He, Tianxiang, What Can We Learn from Japanese Anime Industries? The Differences between the Domestic and Oversea Copyright Protection Strategies Towards Fan Activities (Feburary 2, 2014). American Journal of Comparative Law 62:4, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1998071

Tianxiang He (Contact Author)

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) - Centre for Chinese & Comparative Law

83 Tat Chee Avenue
Room P5300, 5th Floor, Academic 1
Kowloon Tong
Hong Kong

School of Law, City University of Hong Kong ( email )

83 Tat Chee Avenue
Kowloon
Hong Kong

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