Japanese artists oppose TPP copyright proposals
A group of Japanese artists and digital rights parties has publicly opposed proposals to extend the term of the country’s copyright protection.
The group has issued a statement that says it is “deeply concerned” about leaked documents from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which suggest that copyright protection for artistic works will be extended to 'life plus 70 years' in Japan.
Currently copyright protection is for 'life plus 50 years'.
The TPP is a trade deal between a number of nations that have borders on the Pacific Ocean, including the US, Australia and Japan.
Some have criticised the TPP negotiations for allegedly lacking transparency. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group which promotes civil liberties in the digital world, said the TPP is a “secretive, multinational trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive IP laws”.
Documents that showed proposals put forward by countries participating in negotiations were leaked to the public by journalistic organisation Wikileaks in October last year. It was the second time documents had been released by Wikileaks after previous versions were leaked in 2013.
Representatives from rights groups the Movements for the Internet Archive Users, Creative Commons and thinkC were among the organisations to jointly host a public forum last month to discuss the leaked documents.
Under the name Japan Forum for the Intellectual Property Aspects and Transparency of TPP, the event was streamed online for the public to see. The EFF claimed that 15,000 people watched the discussion.
In a statement following the meeting, on March 12, a spokesperson for the group of artists and digital rights parties said: “There have been reports that among the negotiating parties of the TPP, the biggest bone of contention has been the provisions on intellectual property rights, such as copyright.
“The leaked US proposal indicates that there might be provisions that could severely hinder the development of an information society.
“We are deeply concerned about this situation in which important decisions for our nation’s culture and society are being made behind closed doors,” the spokesperson added.
One lawyer told WIPR the proposals could be good for artists but said he is concerned about the lack of public debate around the TPP negotiations.
Kensaku Takase, partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie, said: "Having Japan’s copyright terms aligned with other major economies is not in itself a bad thing.
"It is difficult to envisage the extent of the real life consequences of changes to such a term, but the fact that issues such as the extension of the copyright term are not open to public debate is real.
"It does mean these IP issues are getting put in the mix of other trade issues on the TPP agenda, which the Japanese government needs to contend with," he added.
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