JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Atsushi Igarashi, Yoichiro Kuriyama, Misa Takahashi and Kosuke Ojio, TMI Associates
certain events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, the Japan Consortium, an organisa - tion composed of NHK, a public broadcaster, and private broadcasters, has been formed to allow for the sharing of broadcasting rights, the securing of personnel and systems for jointly creating and broadcasting programmes, and the provision of more viewing opportunities. The broadcasting rights for the Olympics have been agreed upon through several contracts between the International Olympic Committee (the “IOC” ) and the Japan Consortium, cover - ing television, radio broadcasting, and all media rights, including the internet. These agreements included JPY66 billion for the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games and JPY44 billion for the 2022 and 2024 Olympic Games. They also include JPY47.5 billion for the 2026 and 2028 Olympic Games and JPY50 billion for the 2030 and 2032 Olympic Games. However, for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the framework of the Japan Consor - tium broke down as several private broadcasters withdrew due to the soaring broadcasting rights fees, and only NHK, two private broadcasters and an internet video streaming platform com - pany ended up acquiring broadcasting rights. In addition, there are no specific laws or regula - tions in Japan which guarantee free-to-air cov - erage of designated sports events, unlike for example in the UK.
Sports event organisers, including national fed - erations, leagues and clubs, control their facili - ties and games by securing property rights, leasehold rights and other facility use rights through contracts with the owners of the facili - ties and by granting access to athletes, coach - es and spectators. In granting access, sports event organisers obtain permission to include the grantees’ likenesses in the footage of the games. Furthermore, to protect broadcast rights, sponsorship rights and other commercial rights, organisers will: • enter into contracts with athletes and coach - es participating in the sporting events that set the terms and conditions of the participation; • set out various rules and regulations; and • impose terms and conditions for tickets sold by sports event organisers to spectators. 3.2 Liability Sports event organisers are legally obliged, when holding events, to consider the safety of participants. Although the obligation to give consideration to safety is not explicitly stated in Japanese law, judicial precedents stipulate that “the parties who have entered into a special social contract relationship based on a certain legal relationship are obliged to protect their lives and personal safety from the dangers associated with a legal relationship by one or both of them under the doctrine of good faith and mutual trust, as supplementary duties” . Sports event organisers should work to prevent violence and disorder by implementing rules applicable to athletes and coaches, as well as rules applicable to spectators. They should col - laborate with police and security companies. If an athlete violates the rules, they will be pun - ished by sports event organisers.
3. Sports Events 3.1 Relationships
There is no right that protects the sporting events themselves and matches themselves are not protected by intellectual property rights under Japanese law.
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