March 1999
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
1. Purpose of the Amendment
(1) |
In recent years, the industry to sell consumers digitized music, movies, game software, etc. through the Internet and DVD (so called "content-providing business'") has been growing rapidly. The content-providing business' meet diverse consumers' needs, and the future growth of the category is very promising. |
| (2) | During the production process by content-providing business', some technologies, such as encryption, are incorporated to control the usage and to prevent illegal listening and copying. However, other companies that sell devices and programs to circumvent such technological measures are growing. |
| (3) | If illegal listening and copying continue to escalate, the content providers would not be able to earn appropriate profit, and this could threaten them. However, because there is no regulation for the sales of such devices and programs that circumvent technological measures, such sales have taken place in public. Therefore, it is urgent to take measures to prevent such unfair transactions. |
2. Outline of the Bill
In order to prevent the sales of devices and programs that circumvent technological measures to control use or copying of contents, and thereby maintain fair competition, the following measures would be taken:
| (1) | Sales and related activities for such devices and programs should be classified as "unfair competition" under Article 2 of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. |
| (2) | These activities should be subject to injunction requests and compensation requests for damages. |
| (3) | The content providers (content delivery companies, and manufacturers of devices, etc.) should be entitled to make such requests. |
3. Usage Control and an Example of Device to Cancel the Control Function
| (1) | "Genuine" game software in CD-ROM's contain a certain "signal" which cannot be duplicated in pirated editions and copies. The game players are designed to run the "genuine" software having the special "signal" only. (The usage is controlled.) |
| (2) | However, when users install modification chips (so called "MOD Chips"), they are able to play copied software. (Invalidating the usage controlling function.) |
4. Copy Control and an Example of a Device to Cancel the Control Function
| (1) | Rental videotapes contain a special "signal". When someone tries to make a copy, the circuit of the video player reacts to the signal and disturbs the images. |
| (2) | However, when the device, a so called "copyguard canceler", is connected between the video player and the recorder, the special "signal" is cancelled and allows someone to make a clean copy. |