Akamatsu: Warns against changing Japan's copyright law

[DXMichael]

They would be making a small loss by doing this. Many people from other countries have seen the wondrous world of animes and have started buying the DVD's. It's pretty much why companies and publishers dub the animes, because they know it will sell.

It would be quite disappointing if this bill would pass.

I'm glad people such as Ken think differently, Negima is one of my favourite animes/manga's.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by DXMichael

They would be making a small loss by doing this. Many people from other countries have seen the wondrous world of animes and have started buying the DVD's. It's pretty much why companies and publishers dub the animes, because they know it will sell.

It would be quite disappointing if this bill would pass.

I'm glad people such as Ken think differently, Negima is one of my favourite animes/manga's.

Kazuhiko Hachiya: If Japan joins TPP, police will have discretion on which cosplay to allow

Media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya warned on Monday that if Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), the resulting changes in the Copyright Law of Japan would affect cosplay, among other derivative works (works based on other works). Hachiya spoke at a Nico Nico Live seminar on "How Would TPP Change the Net and Copyrights? An In-Depth Examination: From Extending Copyright Terms to Changing the Law to Allow Unilateral Enforcement and Statutory Damages."

The Office of the United States Trade Representative describes the TPP as "an Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement currently being negotiated among the United States and eight other partners" (Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam). The agreement aims to make copyright laws uniform across all the signatory countries. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will be attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii this weekend, and he is expected to announced on Thursday whether Japan will join the TPP talks.

Hachiya's comments came after Kensaku Fukui, a lawyer and a Nihon University professor, wrote an essay on TPP's potential effects last month. Under the current law, the police and prosecutors cannot act against copyright infringement unless the copyright holders themselves file a formal complaint. Fukui asserted that under TPP, such violations will no longer require a complaint for prosecution. The proposed changes under TPP would also allow statutory damages to be levied against defendants.

At the Monday seminar (during which Fukui also spoke), Hachiya said that he fears that the police would be given the discretion on what to prosecute, particularly on "erotic" material. He further asserted that even cosplay outfits can be prosecuted if the police decides that they are not allowed.

Critics of the TPP assert that the part of Japanese culture developed through parody, dōjinshi works, and similar derivative works would be harmed. Negima and Love Hina manga creator Akamatsu further argued that the changes "would destroy derivative dōjinshi." He added, "And as a result, the power of the entire manga industry would also diminish."

Ref: Link

[Roloko vi Britannia]

I just hope we will still be able to buy imports of figurines and niche anime that won't make it to the US or series that could of, but can't thanks to a company called Harmony Gold. I want my Macross Frontier movies damn it. Also the Rebocons and the Code Geass: Kiseki no Birthday event.

This will just fuel piracy even more. Hopefully Japan will not join the TTP.

I don't really care about DJs though just anime and the figurine imports.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by bhl88

Kazuhiko Hachiya: If Japan joins TPP, police will have discretion on which cosplay to allow

Media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya warned on Monday that if Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), the resulting changes in the Copyright Law of Japan would affect cosplay, among other derivative works (works based on other works). Hachiya spoke at a Nico Nico Live seminar on "How Would TPP Change the Net and Copyrights? An In-Depth Examination: From Extending Copyright Terms to Changing the Law to Allow Unilateral Enforcement and Statutory Damages."

The Office of the United States Trade Representative describes the TPP as "an Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement currently being negotiated among the United States and eight other partners" (Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam). The agreement aims to make copyright laws uniform across all the signatory countries. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will be attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii this weekend, and he is expected to announced on Thursday whether Japan will join the TPP talks.

Hachiya's comments came after Kensaku Fukui, a lawyer and a Nihon University professor, wrote an essay on TPP's potential effects last month. Under the current law, the police and prosecutors cannot act against copyright infringement unless the copyright holders themselves file a formal complaint. Fukui asserted that under TPP, such violations will no longer require a complaint for prosecution. The proposed changes under TPP would also allow statutory damages to be levied against defendants.

At the Monday seminar (during which Fukui also spoke), Hachiya said that he fears that the police would be given the discretion on what to prosecute, particularly on "erotic" material. He further asserted that even cosplay outfits can be prosecuted if the police decides that they are not allowed.

Critics of the TPP assert that the part of Japanese culture developed through parody, dōjinshi works, and similar derivative works would be harmed. Negima and Love Hina manga creator Akamatsu further argued that the changes "would destroy derivative dōjinshi." He added, "And as a result, the power of the entire manga industry would also diminish."

Ref: Link

I'm pretty sure everyone gets it *except* the negotiators and decision makers who are puppets of the "thought-sequestering moguls".

[Triple_R]

Much of modern copyright law is truly mind-boggling.

The concept of "free advertising" somehow seems to be lost on some of the players in this.

Fan-driven showcases like cosplay, AMVs, doujins, and blog reviews of anime are all good for anime. They make people more aware of the anime that is out there. They help to create hype and buzz.

All of these fandom celebrations of the anime shows and characters that they love works to increase awareness of these shows. That can only be good for the anime industry, as it can't possibly be bad.


Would Madoka Magica be as big as it was, and sold as well as it did, if not for online fandom activity helping to hype and promote the show? I'm somehow skeptical that it would have been, and I say that as a huge Madoka Magica fan.

[CrowKenobi]

Looks like they're heading down that line: Japan to Join Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Talks

[Roloko vi Britannia]

Well shit....I just hope Pony Canyon and other companies don't shut the door in our face when we want to import something. T_T

[Tempester]

This could potentially be disastrous. It's still horrifyingly shocking to see the self-destroying lengths Japan would go to just to join the bandwagon that other developed countries are in. It's like taking up smoking just because your friends do it: a blind pursuit of shallow acceptance without regard for the self. Hopefully, they'll withdraw from the agreement if their entertainment sector is damaged enough by the law enforcement.

On a similar topic, I find it ridiculous how myriad anime OPs have been removed from Youtube. I mean, seriously? The OPs were made to promote in the first place, and what better place to advertise than a hugely popular site such as Youtube? It's also silly how the companies go through the trouble of removing fan uploads of OPs and yet don't bother creating an official Youtube account and posting the OPs there to promote themselves.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Much of modern copyright law is truly mind-boggling.

The concept of "free advertising" somehow seems to be lost on some of the players in this.

Fan-driven showcases like cosplay, AMVs, doujins, and blog reviews of anime are all good for anime. They make people more aware of the anime that is out there. They help to create hype and buzz.

All of these fandom celebrations of the anime shows and characters that they love works to increase awareness of these shows. That can only be good for the anime industry, as it can't possibly be bad.


Would Madoka Magica be as big as it was, and sold as well as it did, if not for online fandom activity helping to hype and promote the show? I'm somehow skeptical that it would have been, and I say that as a huge Madoka Magica fan.

Agreed wholly. They're just going to kill their own golden goose.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Tempester

Agreed wholly. They're just going to kill their own golden goose.

They really are going to kill it to.

There's probably no entertainment industry in the world more fan-driven and dependent on fan enthusiasm than anime is.

Internationally, the anime fandom is predominantly online, and use things like OP uploads, AMVs, blog reviews, colorful message boards like Anime Suki, etc... as ways to promote amongst themselves the anime shows that they like and love. Internationally, this is the only way a helluva a lot of anime shows get any word of mouth out there at all.

You know how I found out about Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha a few years back? A fellow online anime fan linking me to a YouTube vid of Nanoha vs. Vita from Nanoha A's. That is the main reason I became interested in Nanoha, and would eventually go on to buy Nanoha DVDs. Without that YouTube vid, it's quite conceivable that I never would have become interested in Nanoha, or went on to buy the DVDs.

And I'm sure loads of international anime fans have similar stories to tell when it comes to AMVs, or OPs, or seeing someone dressed up in eye-catching cosplay, causing them to become interested in shows that they previously were not.


Domestically, in Japan, most popular one cour/two cour anime shows air very late at night, or in the middle of the night. A lot of people won't even be aware of the existence of these shows without widespread internet promotion, and a huge chunk of that is definitely fan-driven.


Changing Japan's copyright law in a way that would be pleasing to the TPP would indeed be potentially disastrous. If it's changed in such a fashion, and actually enforced to any significant degree, I shudder to think how much damage it could do to the anime and manga industries.

More people need to start standing up against this copyright law insanity, that goes completely against just basic common sense in the internet age.

[Dr. Casey]

Meh. Sucks that I started actively watching anime and taking more of an interest with the anime world in general (Late last year) around the time that there started being some new sky-is-falling crisis every other week (Tokyo Youth Ordinance, E-Parasites, this dumb copyright shit, etc etc). Just let us enjoy our anime in peace without making us stress about it, government assholes.

[Ithekro]

Do remember that those involved with the legislation will be interested in the law for many other things, and might not even give anime and manga a passing care as they go about their business.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Do remember that those involved with the legislation will be interested in the law for many other things, and might not even give anime and manga a passing care as they go about their business.

That in and of itself would be foolhardy, at least from the Japanese perspective. The manga industry, in particular, is far from insignificant in Japan.

But it may be true that most of the participants in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Talks don't particularly care about anime or manga. I can definitely see the US representatives in those talks not caring about it. But that doesn't mean that whatever comes out of those talks can't or won't negatively impact the anime and/or manga industries. The worst aspects of many laws and regulations are often the unintentional ones.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Haterater

I'm sure they'll work things and only the most hard cases will be locked down. That Tokyo bill only seemed to go after a "few" and hasn't been spread, so there's hope.

Or the Japanese companies can choose to look the other way

And polls report: Split and Unsure

[Afterstep]

The anime/manga industry is in touch with their fan base and not quite at the level of corporate overlords here. Companies could pursue legal action on a regular basis but basically choose not to. Doujinshi almost never substitutes for the real product, and never really competes against any source series, so there isn't any reason to crack down on it unless someone is going to get on their high horse about porn.

It's like giving a farmer a shotgun and saying go ahead and shoot your only milk cow if you want to. I doubt companies are that stupid, so most likely nothing will change.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Afterstep

The anime/manga industry is in touch with their fan base and not quite at the level of corporate overlords here. Companies could pursue legal action on a regular basis but basically choose not to. Doujinshi almost never substitutes for the real product, and never really competes against any source series, so there isn't any reason to crack down on it unless someone is going to get on their high horse about porn.

It's like giving a farmer a shotgun and saying go ahead and shoot your only milk cow if you want to. I doubt companies are that stupid, so most likely nothing will change.

Wonder what fansubbing's response to this one is... (and those who spend nothing on the community).

[Marcus H.]

and those who spend nothing on the community

They'd probably not giving a f*ck, considering their focus on fansub group drama nowadays (I'm looking at you Hatena and gg).

[Xacual]

Let's be honest here, we're not the fanbase that the Japanese companies look at at all. Multiple companies have already stopped shipping out of the country despite there being some of us that do spend money on merchandise or other things. I wish they would consider more of the world market but then you have times where parents like what happened with that stupid Rapelay eroge and cause a big backlash despite it not being the fault of the developers at all. I know that's a bad example, I'm just saying there is still a dumb stigma regarding anime related stuff that it's either for kids or porn.

[Marcus H.]

Oh crap, I meant Hadena... whichever of the two similar-sounding names that give out too incomprehensible subs.

[Chiibi]

I'm really confused now: I thought Japan heavily depended on the American fanbase to spend money on their DVD R1 releases?
WHAT GIVES!?


I don't really understand political talk anyway...

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

I'm really confused now: I thought Japan heavily depended on the American fanbase to spend money on their DVD R1 releases?
WHAT GIVES!?


I don't really understand political talk anyway...

There's a fair amount of feeling in Japan's industry that wishes the whole export market would go away. It complicates their business model (domestic Japanese consumers who are happy paying $100 for 2 episodes on a DVD and buying all the figures and swag).

Consider the entire R1 market an experiment that some of them find annoying. That's one reason they just offloaded the licensing/distribution to an American company with a few exceptions. When foreign interest in anime was a niche subcult, it wasn't even on the radar for them... success overseas has bred problems for them in Japan (reverse importation, etc).