Kaneda Copyright Agency {top}

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Copyright Frequently Asked Questions

{FAQ} What should I do first to use other’s work?

The best way to make sure your intended use of a copyrighted work is lawful is to obtain permission or a license from the right copyright owner.
Copyright law provides the owner of copyrights in a work—initially the author of the work—with a wide range of exclusive rights to use the work. Although the exclusive rights are subject to certain limitations under copyright law, if you intend to use a work of others, you need to identify its copyright owner. Unless a particular limitation applies, you are required to seek permission—a license—from the copyright owner to ensure your intended use of a copyrighted work is lawful.

Once you know that you need permission to use a copyrighted work of others in your business plan, you will have to research its present copyright status and then contact the right copyright owner (who lawfully has the copyright at present).
Usually, you will start your research by checking the copyright notice and/or the records of the Agency for Cultural Affairs or some copyright-management associations such as JASRAC.
After making sure of the copyright status of the work you wish to use, you will get in contact with the copyright owner to request permission to use the work. However, you should know that the copyright owner may work with an agent whose job is to grant licenses to use his/her work on the copyright owner’s behalf. In that case, the first person you intend to contact could not control the copyrights.

[Note] In Japan, under certain conditions, you may exploit a work whose copyright owner is unknown by obtaining a compulsory license granted by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs.