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Japanese copyright law
   

Charles Matthews We might be able to figure here what the Japanese Copyright Acts of 1899 and 1970 actually say. I invite contributions. I have a source.

For example, with the help of our Japanese speakers, we could make sense of this, which I get from a learned article:

...a new term chosakuken was adopted instead of ... hanken deriving from the English word "copyright".

This refers to the 1899 act. There is a gloss: the new term

could cover ... the right of artists in their paintings and sculptures.


BobMcGuigan: I'm hesitant to contribute before the experts do, but the term chosaku has primary meaning "literary work, book" and chosakuken is "copyright", according to my dictionary. Unless there's a technical legal meaning I'm not familiar with this doesn't seem to broaden the application of copyright. The character for han means "printing block or plate; printing; edition, impression" etc. Hanken is simply given as "copyright". Neither of these terms seems to get the full meaning of reproduction, as used in art, for example. But these are from the 1899 act, right? And I suppose the modern issues of intellectual property weren't so well developed then anywhere.



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