The Influence of Recent Court Cases Relating to Copyright Changes in Cloud Computing Services in Japan - Challenges of Information Management Beyond the Cloud - page 70

The Influence of Recent Court Cases Relating
to Copyright Changes in Cloud Computing Services
in Japan

Takashi Nagatsuka

Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Tsurumi University, Tsurumi
2-1-3,Tsurumi-ku,Yokohama, 230-8501, Japan
[e-mail]

Abstract. The utilization of cloud computing is still inadequate and the cloud
computing services are believed; to have a huge potential for development in
the future in Japan. Here, the scope of the cloud computing services is limited
to offer individual users the opportunity of storing copyrighted works on an
online platform. The cloud computing services include online platforms for
publishing photographs and videos, social networking sites and digital locker
services. In Japan, meanwhile, the legality of digital locker services centers
mainly on whether a service provider falls within the definition of a principal
committing copyright infringement, because there is no general fair use
exception in Japanese copyright law. In 2011, the Japanese Supreme Court
reversed the decision of a lower court which found no infringement based on
the right of making broadcasts transmittable or the right of public transmission.
This paper examines the influence of recent court cases relating to the copyright
within the scope of changes brought about by cloud computing in Japan.

Keywords: Cloud computing, cloud computing services, digital locker services,
copyrighted works, Japanese copyright law.

1 Introduction

While cloud computing services are being utilized throughout most developed
countries, such services are still in their infancy in Japan. The expectations, however,
are high. [1]. The NIST describes cloud computing as follows: "Cloud computing is a
model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared
pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released
with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” [2]. Yet, cloud
computing is still an evolving paradigm.
Cloud computing services include online platforms for publishing photographs and
videos, social networking sites and digital locker services [3], as well as all manner of
digital document storage and diffusion. Cloud computing services provide storage
facilities and data flows among servers potentially located beyond what are thought of
as traditional national borders. This raises legal questions concerning the definable
location of the data in regard to access, use, copyright and protection of the data.