JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Hiromi Hayashi, Daisuke Tsuta, Masaki Yukawa and Keiichi Bando, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
9.3 Intellectual Property User Generated Contents
Crypto Assets Regulations If tokens are earned in games, attention should be paid to whether such tokens are regulated as crypto assets. The administrative guidelines issued by the FSA requires that (i) the terms of use prohibit using such tokens for payment and (ii) the minimum unit value be sufficiently high or the maximum number of fractions be sufficiently limited. The prohibition on gambling under the Penal Code is primarily enforced by the National Police Agency. Gambling is penalised by a criminal fine of up to JPY500,000 but gambling on a con - tinuous basis is penalised by imprisonment of up to three years. In usual cases, since online gambling websites are generally operated from outside Japan, players of overseas gambling and payment service providers, not operators, are charged with gambling or aiding thereof. Prohibition of Multi-Tier Loot Box 9.2 Regulatory Bodies Prohibition of Gambling The Consumer Affairs Bureau enforces the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. Multi-tier loot box is not direct - ly penalised, but the Bureau may issue a correc - tive order for breaches. See 9.1 Regulations for further details on the multi-tier loot box. Payment Services and Crypto Assets Regulations The FSA enforces the Payment Services Act. A failure to file with the FSA for issuing pay - ment instrument is penalised by imprisonment of up to six months or a criminal fine of up to JPY500,000. A failure to register with the FSA to transact crypto assets is penalised by imprison - ment of up to three years or a criminal fine of up to JPY3 million.
Game players may engage in creative activi - ties and copyright for their creative works may be granted to them depending on the terms of use. If so granted, a third party who wants a secondary use of such user-generated contents must obtain a licence from the player holding the copyright. To facilitate such secondary use even if the copyright owner does not timely respond to a licensing request, the Copyright Act was amended in May 2023 to allow a more expe - dited and simplified state licensing scheme for the secondary use of user-generated contents within three years from May 2023. Design Imitation To protect the design owner’s interest, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act was amended in 2023 to prohibit the provision via telecommuni - cations of data which imitate another’s product from April 2024. Trade Mark Since the goods and service classifications between the real world and a virtual environment are different, trade marks for real-world goods would not be protected in a virtual environment unless they are registered for virtual goods and services. Having said that, since an increasing number of brand-owning companies apply for virtual goods and services, game developers need to be more careful about using a third- party’s trade marks. Publicity Rights An avatar may be generated from an image of a public figure. There is a judicial precedent ruling that a publicity right is granted if the name or image of the public figure has the power to pro - mote the sale of goods and that publicity right is infringed if the name or image is used solely for
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