Japan implements copyright reform: harder punishments planned

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The copyright reform, which the government of Japan presented in early 2019, is to be implemented in large parts, as the portal Sumikai reports . On Wednesday the vote took place. The new laws are expected to come into force during the next year. But there is still need for clarification in some points.

Japan wants to do more in the fight against online pirates

The reform of the copyright there should curb online piracy in Japan. Anyone who uses anime, computer games, e-books, manga, music or software illegally in the future must expect harsher sanctions. The Tokyo government also wants to punish the upload much harder. In August , it was said that linking to black copies should be punished with imprisonment of up to five years. The download was said to imprisonment of up to two years.

In March of this year, the Parliament moved the talks on the grounds that it was necessary to revise the bill again. The reform of early 2019 has caused many critics to go too far for the censorship of the Internet and the planned sanctions. They fear a significant interference with the freedom of expression of their fellow citizens.

Distribution of excerpts of whole works legally

A committee of the Japanese special office Bunka-chō (Office for Cultural Affairs) has also commented . According to the partial download of copyrighted works should not be prohibited or punishable. While one would legalize the distribution or download of individual images of a manga or hentai work, it would be in the same breath, the distribution of the entire issue or film under penalty.

Planned introduction of copyright reform in 2020

Bunka-cho, the special office of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, wants to complete the copyright reform by January next year. The bill will then be discussed by the government in January.

However, the employees of Bunka-cho have pointed out on Wednesday that there is still need for discussion. So one must still clarify to what extent one wants to punish the complete Download of original works. Exceptions are parodies and derivative works such as Memes. In addition, it was announced that the local economy would suffer greatly from online piracy in Japan. The damage is serious.

Reform wants to contain the shadow economy

Some observers see the proposed reform in response to large illegal portals such as Mangamura, where links to over 600GB of black copies existed. In July 2019, the operator of Mangamura.org was arrested. The site is no longer online. However, there are many other illegal websites that turn their content to this special-interest audience.