And since this process eventually requires them to sue the infringers legally, most of the time outside of Japan, the government is offering them free legal assistance too on this. Copyright owners of any kind registering for this service will have access to over 1,000 lawyers responding to their questions and even direct meetings to solve queries.
Helping Those Who Need It
Aside from movies and music, Japan’s manga and anime are some of the major works to be pirated whenever they are launched new. Though copyright owners try to track and sue the infringers, it’s mostly limited to big publishers and critical cases. But to help the mini publishers in their genuine war against piracy, the Japanese government is offering free legal aid to support them in their legal battles. Coming from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, the unit has launched a program to educate copyright owners on how to defend their works from infringement since June this year. Now, to those who are well-versed with the routes of suing infringers, the Japanese government is freely assisting them with lawyers to pursue so. All the copyright owners have to do is visit the specially crafted portal and lodge their complaints. The agency would then help you in preparing and send network takedown notices to the concerned platforms. While it’s still a basic step that most owners do, the agency has set up a Consultation Desk to accept “consultations regarding infringement of copyrights, etc. from rightsholders.” All those consultations will be replied to by email, with some cases getting a “free individual interview with an attorney” to be held online or otherwise! The agency maintains a network of more than 1,000 lawyers, including copyright specialists with experience in fighting piracy in Asia, North America, and the EU.
