Life During Wartime

The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) is currently urging the Japanese government to ask for an end to what it calls Japan’s “unilaterally imposed” 10-year extension of royalties payments to rights holders.

According to a provision of the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in 1951, Japanese publishers and other users of copyrighted material owned by citizens of the 15 Allied countries that co-signed the treaty would have to extend the period of royalties owed by about 10 years due to the fact that while Japan was at war with these countries it didn’t pay any royalties.

So instead of the copyright expiring 50 years after an author’s death, in Japan it would not expire for some 60 years, depending on when a particular country signed the treaty.

The provision has led to some strange circumstances. Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” for instance, was published in 1952, or after the treaty was signed, and is now in the public domain in Japan, but “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” published in 1940, is not, and won’t be until 2022.

This add-on period applies only to Japan. Italy, another Axis power, was supposed to have been obligated, albeit for only five years, but the country’s government negotiated with each of the Allied countries and eventually had the protection extension canceled in 1993 when the European Union was being formed.

France also had a similar extension condition domestically, since for much of the war it was occupied by the Nazis, but it expired a long time ago. Copyright experts agree that the SF treaty extension is discriminatory, a lingering remnant of the Allies’ will to punish Japan, and JASRAC believes it should be rescinded.

The problem is that the Japanese government “accepted the extension as punishment, a term of surrender,” according to one expert interviewed in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, and thus feels an obligation to pay, even now. If Japan wanted to get rid of the extension it would be relatively easy but time-consuming, as it would entail negotiations with each of the 15 treaty signatories.

Ironically, JASRAC has benefited from the add-on since it collects the royalties for foreign copyright holders. JASRAC charges copyright users a handling fee, so the more royalties there are to collect, the more money they make. In 2010, JASRAC made ¥280 million ($3 million) just from add-on royalties.

But the extension costs more than just the money spent on royalties. As a representative of the Japan Arts Copyright Assoc. told one newspaper, many authors change nationality, and since each country has a different copyright law it’s difficult to keep track of a particular work’s protection period.

The paperwork can get complicated and expensive. Moreover, users can’t be sure of their obligations. A Japanese music academy that specializes in German music had a problem some years back when it performed a piece by the German composer Richard Strauss. Since Strauss died in 1949 the academy thought the work was in the public domain, but it turned out a British publisher had bought the copyright and British copyright law is different from German copyright law. The publisher demanded royalties based on the treaty.

The academy fought the demand in Japanese court and won, but the experience was traumatic. It’s why Japanese musicians avoid playing 20th century works. Royalties for foreign compositions tend to be very high, and since performers aren’t sure whether a work is in the public domain, they play it safe and just stick to Beethoven and Mozart.

There are also isolated cases of overseas publishers fraudulently charging royalties for works that are in the public domain and Japanese users who don’t know any better paying them.