Japan is going to support the ASEAN nations in order to develop Copyright Acts

The Japanese government announced in the ASEAN Cultural and Art Ministers’ Meeting held in Brunei on 25 August 2016 that the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan decided to reinforce support for the development of a copyright system in the ASEAN countries in order to raise public concern about copyrights in this area.

According to the JASRAC, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, the total amount of royalties paid from Asian users to Japanese copyright owners reached 140 million yen in the music industry in 2015. However, most of them were paid from Chinese and Korean users, and royalties paid from the ASEAN users fell below 20 million yen.

Although Japanese music or cartoons recently became popular in the ASEAN countries, public consciousness towards copyrights is still low among the nationals in these areas and pirate editions have been continuously put on the market.

For example, in Thailand and Vietnam, Copyright Acts and the related laws have not been established although they have founded copyright managing organizations. Thus, it is very difficult to enforce regulations on pirate editions in these areas.

The Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan announced that they will invite officials from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia to Japan during the next fiscal year to give training and support for development of copyright management organizations and Copyright Acts.