– Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of May 6, 1970), as amended up to Act No. 72 of July 13, 2018.
– The Revision effective from January 1, 2021.

– Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Before January 1, 1986, the Japanese courts had, since 1982, developed a theory that software can enjoy the benefit of protection under the Copyright Law. After some controversy, a revision of the 1970 Law was effected, rather than adopting a special law for computer software. A “program” was listed in “works” to be protected under the Copyright Law by the 1985 amendment.

Filing: no filing or registration is required in Japan to obtain protection. However, recording of the date of creation or publication is advisable with a view to easily proving the date of creation or publication in an infringement case.

Right to protection: belongs to the author of the computer software, his assignee and the owner of the right of publication of the computer software.

Employee’s creations: the author of computer software, which is created by an employee in execution of his function as an employee, is deemed to be the employer unless otherwise agreed upon.

Foreigners: a foreign owner of a copyright is entitled to the same benefit under the law as nationals if the software was first published in Japan or if the above-mentioned Conventions apply.

Originality: up to now, originality has not been a major point of discussion as a precedent for protection in Japan while it is of course true that an unauthorized copy of existing software is not allowed to enjoy the benefit of protection.

Territory: the whole territory of Japan.

Duration: fifty years from the date of death of the author but in case that the author is a corporation, fifty years from the publication of the software (fifty years from the date of creation if the software is not published within fifty years from the date of creation).

Assignment: possible without fulfilling any formality. But registration of the assignment will safeguard the rights of the assignee in case of double assignment.

Duplication and modification: the owner of a copy of the software has the right to make a duplicate or modification of the software to the extent necessary for the use thereof with his computer.

Infringement: unauthorized copying of computer software constitutes an infringement of the copyright of the computer software. There is no precedent, which refers to what would be prima facie evidence to show “copying”, but significant similarity and possible access will be probative evidence. Infringers are subject to civil and criminal penalties. The criminal penalty is up to ten years imprisonment and/or 10 million Yen fine. Further, from January 1, 2021, it is illegal, under certain conditions, to download illegally uploaded works, such as computer programs, knowing that they have been illegally uploaded.