日本音楽著作権協会希望檢討著作権保護期

Last month the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

日本音楽著作権協会（ＪＡＳＲＡＣ）の都倉俊一会長らは２５日、外務省を訪れ、海外１５か国の音楽作品などの著作権保護期間を、主として約１０年間延長している現行ルールの見直しを各国に働きかけるよう、岸田外相に要請した。

　著作権法は、著作権保護期間を作者の死後５０年間と定め、その間は著作権料が発生する。これに対し、英米仏やブラジル、オランダなど第２次世界大戦の戦勝国の作品については、日本が戦後の独立を回復した１９５２年のサンフランシスコ講和条約により、交戦状態にあった期間の分、著作権を長く保護する「戦時加算」が義務づけられている。戦時加算の期間は国や著作権取得時期によって異なる。

　日本の映画などでもしばしば使用される「星に願いを」の場合、米国の作曲家のレイ・ハーラインは１９６９年に死亡しており、著作権法に従えば２０１９年中に著作権保護期間は終了する。しかし、戦時加算により約１０年（３７９４日）延長され、終了時期は３０年５月まで延びる。

（2013年2月26日00時28分 読売新聞）

(試譯文)

On the 25th (February) Chairman Toshikazu Tokura of the Japanese Society of Rights of Authors and Composers (JASRAC) together with others visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; they requested Foreign Minister Kishida to re-examine the present rule in 15 overseas countries on musical composition etc. regarding the extended copyright protection period, mainly about the ten-year extension; and to encourage a review of this rule in these countries.

   The Copyright Act fixed the copyright protection period at 50 years after the author's death, and a royalty was levied in that period. In respect of the work generated in the World War II victorious countries such as the British, American, France, Brazil, and the Netherlands, according to the Peace Treaty signed in San Francisco in 1952 through which Japan regained its postwar independence, a "war addition" responsibility was imposed on Japan which would extend the copyright protection period to compensate for the time when the state of war existed. The time period of this “war addition” and the acquisition time of the copyright varied among these countries.

   In the case of "When You Make a Wish upon a Star" which often used in Japanese movies etc, the American composer Leigh Harline had died in 1969. If the Copyright Act was to be followed, the copyright protection period would be ended by the end of 2019. However, it would be extended by “war addition” for about ten years (3794 days), and the ending time would be extended to May, 2030.

It is a legacy of the WWII. It is also an interesting copyright topic between Japan and the Allied countries.