Author
Prof Keita SATO
Organisation/Institution
chuo university
Country
JAPAN
Panel
Intellectual Property Rights
Title
calligraphy and copyright law -Japanese perspectives
Abstract
Calligraphy (Shodo in Japanese) is the work of writing characters with a brush. It may be copyrightable, although decorative characters are copyrightable in some European jurisdictions for printed matters. However, some special considerations may be necessary in blush hand-writing in my opinion, namely, 1) characters (letters) are a tool for transmitting information (that means characters themselves should not be monopolized), and 2) they are generally written in black ink, and because they are basically written in one go (every character should be written in one time), it is almost impossible to modify them. The Japanese court has stated that ``Among the figurative expressions made from letters, calligraphy by calligraphers, which are originally objects of art appreciation, are susbject to various factors such as font, brushstrokes, stroke force, shading and bleeding of ink, etc. While a wide variety of expressions are possible, it is natural that copyrighted material is recognized as a creative expression that is the product of the author's intellectual, cultural, and spiritual activities, and is not limited to calligraphy by a calligrapher. A work of creative expression that can be evaluated as "calligraphy" falls under the category of works of art (Article 10, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Copyright Act).”, in Osaka dist. Court decision in Nov.19, 2019. So, what are the conditions for it to be evaluated as calligraphy ? To elucidate this, it may be necessary to explain how to assess "rinsho”, which can be called the unique culture of Japanese calligraphy. Rinsho is a work in which characters are written in the same way as the rubbings of stone monuments written by ancient Chinese ancestors, and the custom of writing “Keita Rin”(恵太臨） in the author's signature is established as a work. In many public calligraphy exhibitions, we have rinsho sections, and it will also be eligible for awards at such exhibition. Rinsho is an imitation of a model, but while keeping in mind the brush strokes of the model, the force of the brush, the shading of the ink, etc., when actually writing, there are times when the model is not placed next to it. Questions remain as to whether it is okay to uniformly conclude that Rinsho using this method is not creative because it is an imitation. In this report, I would like to clarify this point and try to compare it with examples from other jurisdictions that have calligraphy culture (China, South Korea, Vietnam, etc.).
Biography
At present; Intellectual property law professor at Chuo Law School in Japan since 2008 (Professor at Chuo University on tenure track since 1988). Board member of Japan Industrial Property Law Association, Copyright Association, and ALAI Japan. WIPO Panelist (mediator) for domain name & IP dispute since 2000, and Panelist for Japan IP arbitration Center since 2003 Main subject; design law, copyright law and trademark law In the Past; Scholar in residence at George Washington Univ. National Law Center in 1994, Guest professor at Max Planck Institute for IP Law in 1995, Visiting professor at Alicante Univ. in 1998, Adjunct professor at American University Washington college of Law in 2001, Guest professor at Viet-Nam National Univ. in 2005-2010, Guest prof. at Univ. Baltimore Law School in 2007, Adjunct professor at Tulane Law School in 2013 Committee member of Japanese Government Patent attorney examinations 2000-2005 Japanese government delegation member at Hague Agreement Geneva Act expert committee at WIPO. I served several legislative activities such as Japan Unfair Competition law (trade secrets) and original Provider Liability limitation Act, and as a member of JICA Viet-Nam Law Establishing Project on civil law with Viet-Nam ministry of justice since 2002, JICA Cambodian civil law project since 2002 Several speeches on design law, such as 1st Oxford Univ. Design Law Conference in 2012, ATRIP 2012 annual conference at Chicago Kent law school and EU design law workshop at Copenhagen University in 2015. On copyright, Asian Pacific Copyright Association inaugural conference at Victoria Univ. (NZ) in 2015.
