Translated News: Should Copyrights be Changed for Rakugo, Doujinshi and Software?

[Floating_Sakura]

For Rakugo, doujinshi and software, should copyright treatment change with the type of industry?

The treatment of copyright differs with the type of industry. While in the Rakugo (a form of Japanese comedian stage performance) field, joke materials are taught to the students for free, the software industry relies on licensing to properly control their works. Therefore, applying one single copyright law on everything is difficult per se.

Should the length of the copyright term be extended to seventy years after the death of the original creator? Or, should the current practice of fifty years after death be maintained? An organization called Think C (Think Copyright) held a panel discussion in Tokyo on 12th April. Rakugo masters, modern artists, software engineers and other experts discussed with each other on the issues related to the copyright law and industrial practices.

Think C is a voluntary organization with participants such as creators who oppose to the proposed extension and writers who take a neutral stance. It advocates that no decision should be made on extending the copyright term without sufficient discussion beforehand.

The panel discussion was the third one held by Think C. Panellists included Ensou Sanyuutei, a Rakugo master; Noboru Tsubaki, a modern artist; Masanoki Kusunori , Assistant Chief Technician Officer of Microsoft; and Masayosi Sakai, currently the Honorary Assistant Professor of Waseda University Graduate School, and worked in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in the past. Junghoon Kim, Associate Professor of Keio Univeristy, was the coordinator of the discussion.

While the panel discussions before had been focusing on the rights and wrongs of extending the copyright term, almost all the panellists of this discussion opposed to the extension. There were heated discussions over the conflicts between the law and the practices of the Rakugo circle, the software industry, the modern art field and the Doujinshi circle.


Rakugo - something taught for free

As Ensou pointed out, the belief that copyright should be maintained after the death of of the original creator contradicts with the practices of Rakugo.

“For Rakugo, joke materials are taught to students for free. Of course, we do not charge things like copyright fees. If the students want to use them for their own performances, they just need to say a word to their teachers. After their teachers have passed away, the students are then free to use everything they have learnt,” said Ensou.

Even for the Rakugo field with such a generous practice, with the application of a more stringent copyright law, strange things like treating the Rakugo masters’ joke materials as copyrighted, as well as requiring students to seek permission for using them, will happen.

“For example, I had used the content of Michiko Nagai’s novels as joke materials. I offered to pay a fee, but Nagai just replied with a smile, saying ‘I do not need it.’ However, what will happen if I teach my own students those joke materials? After Nagai has passed away, it is not guaranteed that her heirs will not come and complain about the Rakugo performances.”

Actually, right after Ensou had talked in a television programme about his idea of using the works of a certain novelist deceased ten years ago for his Rakugo performance, the heirs complained that they “had never been asked about it.” Ensou was greatly troubled.

Ensou added, “I sent them a letter stating that, ‘I am willing to come and apologize if I have violated your rights by simply talking about an idea. I am also willing to come and explain if you would like to properly manage the copyright you are holding.’ Nonetheless there was no reply. Because the works of that novelist are really great, I would like to pledge a respect, but…”


Modern art and copyright are in separated dimensions

“Since modern art is largely business-oriented, the issue of copyright has little association with it,” pointed out by Tsubaki as a modern artist. “For modern art, no matter it is something for billionaires to come in jets and buy with hundreds of millions, or something that never leaves an art museum after entering it, copyright fees do not cover a significant portion of the total market value.”

As an artist who often makes parody works that poke fun at famous politicians, Tsubaki commented, “Whenever the young people these days are about to do anything radical, they will immediately come and ask, ‘Is it all right to do so? Will anyone complain? How about the copyright?’ It is disappointing that the ‘law-abiding consciousness’ of these obedient youngsters is shrinking the scope of art.”

All of Tsubaki’s works are in the public domain. “It was because when I was in Palestine doing art, the locals told me to put my works into the public domain,” he explained while laughing at the same time. It is also meant to be an anti-thesis to the bloated American culture, as he further noted.


Doujinshi - “Lenient” management goes hand-in-hand with creation

With reference to cases like the Pokemon doujinshi case, in which a female doujin creator was arrested for being suspected of copyright violation, Assistant Professor Sakai, who is knowledgeable in the manga circle, explained, “When copyright is exercised to the greatest degree, the parody works in Comiket can be held as illegal by the court.”

“The court will never say all parody works have no problem. Also, how is it going to deal with those aberrant works? I hope that these things can be left to be judged by common knowledge instead, with the introduction of a legal ‘safe harbour’ that allows a certain degree of flexibility.”

Since the copyright restrictions in Japan on doujinshi is relatively lenient, Japan is said to be receiving notable attention as a place that allows doujin creators from other countries with strict restrictions, like Korea, to publish their works.


Software - tight control by licensing
“The issue should be considered industry by industry”

Software has also been protected by the copyright law since the 1980s. However, since it is difficult to imagine any software to be still in practical use after being released for fifty or seventy years, it seems not to be directly related to the extension of the copyright term.

“Fifty or seventy years are too long for the computer industry. Seventy years ago was the time when Doctor Alan Turing released his first theoretical model of computer.” Kusunori from Microsoft remarked.

Even from the viewpoint of reusability, there are differences between software and other creative works as well. Kusunori elaborated, “As reusing software comes with benefits, software are made and licensed with consideration of easy reusability. With large-scale business use as the centre of overall usage, mechanisms that allow creators to express how they want their products to be used can be properly employed. Problems seldom occur.”

“Through the release of SDK (software development kits), Microsoft software are released in a easily utilizable manner to software engineers,” he further noted.

The issue of how copyright should be handled differs with the type of industry. Kusunori concluded, “There are fields, like the Rakugo field, with practices of allowing reuse of materials without the need to establish contracts. There are also industries, like the software industry, that conform to the law and employ contracts. The issue should be considered industry by industry.”

Translated by Doraneko
Translated from: IT Media