[tlug] Question for Prof. Hideaki Shirata

[Edward Middleton <emiddleton@example.com>]

Hi TLUG,

As previously mentioned Prof. Hideaki Shirata will be leading an
informatl discussion about Japanese copyright law at the TLUG technical
meeting this Saturday.  I suggested in the announcement that people post
questions for Prof. Hideaki because there is potentially a lot that can
be discussed and it might be more interesting to focus on the areas that
are of actual interest.  The following are some questions that I have.

General.

* What is copyrightable according to Japanese Law?
* Are user interfaces copyrightable?
* How are individuals or companies dealing with copyright infringement
in Japan?
* Are creators of applications that could be used for copyright
infringement, e.g. winny liable for the actions of users of their
applications?

Online Archives

* Are content aggregation sites like flickr, u-tube liable for copyright
infringing of their users according to Japanese Law?
* Do public web caches infringe Japanese copyright.
* Does Japan assert Jurisdiction on copyrighted content on servers
outside Japan.

Copyleft Licenses.

* Are Copyleft licenses enforceable in Japan?
* Is anyone enforcing them in Japan?
* The Linux Kernel is becoming popular in embedded applications,  many
embedded Linux vendors in Japan are using binary only drivers.  Does this
breach Japanese copyright?

Please add any questions you might have or improvements on the above.

Edward