EXCLUSIVE: “Special cases” eyed as exceptions to illegal download ban

February 7, 2020

Tokyo--Japan will accept "special cases" as exceptions in an envisaged bill to criminalize downloading of manga and other copyrighted content uploaded online without permission, Jiji Press learned Thursday.

The bill to amend the copyright law will include a clause saying that acts falling under special cases, or those considered not to unfairly harm a copyright holder's interests, will not be treated as illegal, according to an outline of the bill.

The government hopes to submit the measure to the current session of the Diet, the country's parliament.

The clause will be added to ensure the effectiveness of the antipiracy measures without restricting information-collecting activities of the general public too much.

An example of what would be considered a special case would be downloading of a manual created by a fraud group that is posted on a website of a victims support group without permission in order to protect victims and their families, informed sources said.

In a report released in January, an expert panel at the Cultural Affairs Agency stopped short of unifying opinions of its members on whether the envisioned restrictions should only cover acts that harm the copyright holder's interests.

The clause was devised in line with proposals by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, to education minister Koichi Hagiuda that special cases should be exempted from the download ban.

The bill will also stipulate that downloads of small amounts of content, such as up to several frames of a manga work with dozens of pages and fan fiction including parodies of existing works, will not be punishable.

It will also include restrictions on so-called leech sites, which lead internet users to pirated websites.

Last year, the government aimed to introduce a copyright law revision to expand the scope of restrictions to downloading of copyrighted content in general. The idea was scrapped in response to concerns that such an amendment would reduce internet usage. Jiji Press