Japanese Man Sentenced For Posting ‘Godzilla’ Spoilers Online; Gizmodo, April 21, 2026

JAMES WHITBROOK , Gizmodo; Japanese Man Sentenced For Posting ‘Godzilla’ Spoilers Online

39-year-old Wataru Takeuchi was charged for posting plot descriptions of movies and anime series so detailed that a Tokyo court declared them copyright infringement.

"Last week, Asahi (via The Verge) reported that the Tokyo District Court sentenced Wataru Takeuchi to a year and a half in prison, as well as a 1 million yen (roughly $6,300) fine, for running foul of Japan’s copyright laws. Takeuchi was the administrator of an entertainment site littered with articles (and, perhaps most crucially, monetized ad displays, from which Takeuchi made almost a quarter of a million dollars in 2023) that went into great length and spoiler-filled detail to summarize the plots of popular shows and movies."

AI-Generated Animation: Implement Legal Regulations to Protect Copyright Holders; The Japan News, April 13, 2026

 Editorial, The Japan News; AI-Generated Animation: Implement Legal Regulations to Protect Copyright Holders

"Regardless of the motive, it is unacceptable for third parties to edit copyrighted works — into which creators have invested their time and effort — and post them online without authorization. If this situation is left unresolved, it will undermine creators’ motivation and Japan’s content industry could be harmed.

The government should face up to the negative aspects of AI technology and seriously tackle this issue to protect copyright holders and their works."

When Will Japan’s Cherry Blossoms Bloom? A.I. Can Help Answer That; The New York Times, March 31, 2026

 

Javier C. Hernández, Kiuko Notoya and Hisako Ueno

Visuals by Kentaro Takahashi

, The New York Times; When Will Japan’s Cherry Blossoms Bloom? A.I. Can Help Answer That

Experts use artificial intelligence to analyze data, plus thousands of crowdsourced photos, to forecast the prized flowers, which are a multibillion-dollar attraction.

"For Hiroki Ito, a data scientist and meteorologist who specializes in the high-stakes art of predicting the exact date that the trees will bloom, it has always been a time of stress. Japan’s prized cherry blossoms generate an estimated more than $9 billion in tourism and other revenue each year. Airlines, hotels and restaurants depend on the forecasts — not to mention the 123 million Japanese who want to know when to head to parks and gardens for peak bloom...

Now, Mr. Ito and other experts are turning to a tool they hope might reduce some of the burden of forecasting: artificial intelligence. They are using A.I. systems to analyze decades of temperature data, and to deliver maps and “bloom meters” for trees in more than 1,000 spots, which blossom at different times.

This year, forecasters are crowdsourcing photos from the public and feeding them into A.I.-powered databases that can track the growth of buds, which form in the summer, stay dormant through the winter, and take anywhere from two to four weeks to blossom after turning green in the spring.

In the past, experts relied on computer analysis of weather patterns and observations of trees to predict the arrival of the “blossom front,” or the flowering of the trees — with varying success. In 2007, forecasters with the official Japan Meteorological Agency were forced to deliver a televised apology after a computer glitch caused the agency to get the forecast wrong by up to nine days in some places.

A.I. systems have brought more efficiency and precision to the process, scientists say, allowing the first predictions to come out a few weeks earlier, in December — three months before the start of the main cherry blossom season."

Japan Police Accuse Man of Unauthorized Use of AI-Generated Image in Landmark Copyright Case; IGN, November 21, 2025

VERITY TOWNSEND, IGN ; Japan Police Accuse Man of Unauthorized Use of AI-Generated Image in Landmark Copyright Case

"Police in Japan have accused a man of unauthorized reproduction of an AI-generated image. This is believed to be the first ever legal case in Japan where an AI-generated image has been treated as a copyrighted work under the country’s Copyright Act.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and spotted by Dexerto, the case relates to an AI-generated image created using Stable Diffusion back in 2024 by a man in his 20s from Japan’s Chiba prefecture. This image was then allegedly reused without permission by a 27-year-old man (also from Chiba) for the cover of his commercially-available book. 

The original creator of the image told the Yomiuri Shimbun that he had used over 20,000 prompts to generate the final picture. The police allege that the creator had sufficient involvement in the AI image’s creation, and the matter has been referred to the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office.

Japan’s Copyright Act defines a copyrighted work as a “creatively produced expression of thoughts or sentiments that falls within the literary, academic, artistic, or musical domain.” In regard to whether an AI-generated image can be copyrighted or not, the Agency of Cultural Affairs has stated that an AI image generated with no instructions or very basic instructions from a human is not a “creatively produced expression of thoughts or sentiments” and therefore not considered to meet the requirements to be copyrighted work.

However, if a person has used AI as a tool to creatively express thoughts or feelings, the AI-generated output might be considered a copyrighted work. This is to be decided on a case-by-case basis. The process behind the creation of the specific AI-generated image has to be looked at in order to determine whether it can be considered to be creative enough to be termed a copyrighted work. Key criteria are the amount of detailed prompts, the refining of instructions over repeated generation attempts, and creative selections or changes to outputs."

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations; NiemanLab, August 11, 2025

ANDREW DECK  , NiemanLab; Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations

"The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper by circulation, has sued the generative AI startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in Tokyo District Court on August 7, marks the first copyright challenge by a major Japanese news publisher against an AI company.

The filing claims that Perplexity accessed 119,467 articles on Yomiuri’s site between February and June of this year, based on an analysis of its company server logs. Yomiuri alleges the scraping has been used by Perplexity to reproduce the newspaper’s copyrighted articles in responses to user queries without authorization.

In particular, the suit claims Perplexity has violated its “right of reproduction” and its “right to transmit to the public,” two tenets of Japanese law that give copyright holders control over the copying and distribution of their work. The suit seeks nearly $15 million in damages and demands that Perplexity stop reproducing its articles...

Japan’s copyright law allows AI developers to train models on copyrighted material without permission. This leeway is a direct result of a 2018 amendment to Japan’s Copyright Act, meant to encourage AI developmentin the country’s tech sector. The law does not, however, allow for wholesale reproduction of those works, or for AI developers to distribute copies in a way that will “unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner."

Japan aims to lift intellectual property competitiveness via AI use; The Mainichi, June 3, 2025

 The Mainichi; Japan aims to lift intellectual property competitiveness via AI use

"The Japanese government said Tuesday it will seek to enhance the country's competitiveness in the area of intellectual property by promoting the use of artificial intelligence and attracting foreign talent.

In the intellectual property strategy for 2025, the country will take advantage of the international popularity of Japanese anime and the content of such movies that highlights local culture to help promote regional economies, expecting a total economic impact of around 1 trillion yen ($7.0 billion)."

Japanese media say AI search infringes copyright, urge legal reform; Kyodo News, July 17, 2024

 KYODO NEWS ; Japanese media say AI search infringes copyright, urge legal reform

"Artificial intelligence-powered search engines provided by U.S. tech giants like Google LLC and Microsoft Corp. likely infringe on copyright, an association run by Japanese mass media said Wednesday.

The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, in a statement, called for companies operating such services to obtain consent from news organizations as search responses often resemble articles that are sourced without permission.

The association analyzed that AI search engines sometimes return inaccurate responses as they inappropriately reuse or modify articles and stressed that the companies should ensure the accuracy and reliability of their services before launch.

The association also urged the Japanese government to review and revise laws related to intellectual property, such as the copyright act, as a matter of urgency."

Japan's universities fail to make the most of intellectual property; Nikkei Asia, March 9, 2024

KENJIRO SUZUKI, Nikkei Asia; Japan's universities fail to make the most of intellectual property

"Due to lack of support, patents earn only 2% compared to U.S. schools"

Japan Declares AI Training Data Fair Game and ‘Will Not Enforce Copyright’; PetaPixel, June 5, 2023

 MATT GROWCOOT , PetaPixel; Japan Declares AI Training Data Fair Game and ‘Will Not Enforce Copyright’

"In the first such declaration of its kind, Japan has seemingly asserted that it will not enforce copyrights when it comes to training generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs.

Japan’s minister of education, culture, sports, science, and technology recently said that it is possible to take content from any source and use it for “information analysis.” 

According to a Japanese political website, Liberal Democrat minister Keiko Nagoaka clearly stated at a committee meeting that AI companies can use whatever data they want to train generative AI programs."

UN agency finds US, Asian companies seek most AI patents; Associated Press, January 31, 2019

Associated Press; UN agency finds US, Asian companies seek most AI patents

"The U.N.’s intellectual property organization says companies in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. are the top filers of patent applications involving artificial intelligence.

The World Intellectual Property Organization has issued a first report aiming to show trends in AI, seen as a growth area in coming years, although still a tiny fraction of all patent applications each year.

WIPO said Thursday that machine learning is the dominant AI technique disclosed in patents."

China keeps global crown in patent applications; Nikkei Asian Review, December 4, 2018

Rintaro Hosokawa, Nikkei Asian Review; China keeps global crown in patent applications

"China was responsible for around 40% of the 3.17 million patent applications submitted worldwide last year, putting the country at the top for the seventh straight year and driving Asia's growing presence in the global intellectual property arena.

The World Intellectual Property Organization said Monday China's 1.38 million applications mark a new record, though the group did not give a year-on-year percentage increase due to changes in the way China's patent office counted filings.

China's patent applications in 2017 mainly concerned electronic devices, computer technology and digital data transmission. Chinese tech companies, such as telecommunications equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE, significantly boosted their application counts.

At 607,000, patent applications from the U.S. were less than half of China's total. That places America in second place, followed by Japan's 318,000 applications in third and South Korea's 200,000 in the No. 4 spot."

Brain Power Pays Off With Japan’s Intellectual Property Exports; Bloomberg, January 15, 2018

Connor Cislo, Bloomberg; Brain Power Pays Off With Japan’s Intellectual Property Exports

"Given the importance of IP to their economies, Japan and other advanced nations such as the U.S. are trying to strengthen protections in this area.

Japan nearly saw its preferred IP protection regime realized in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, until President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the agreement threw the pact's future into doubt.

The remaining 11 TPP members have suspended multiple IP-related provisions from the original agreement. Meanwhile, another large trade deal championed by China, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, doesn’t address IP to the satisfaction of Japanese businesses."

Asia Is Getting Its Own Patent Police; Bloomberg, 7/7/16

Paul Einhorn and Pavel Alpeyev, Bloomberg; Asia Is Getting Its Own Patent Police:

"Xiaomi is among a growing number of Chinese companies—PC maker Lenovo, screen maker BOE, appliance maker Midea—“looking to get their hands on good, solid IP that can be used against multinationals,” says Guy Proulx, chief executive officer of advisory firm Transpacific IP Group. “Used against” often means extracting fees via angry letter, negotiation, or lawsuit. It’s a shift for Chinese companies, which have more often been the defendants in patent suits. They’re catching up with a trend in Japan and South Korea, where government-backed funds are fighting on behalf of big tech companies’ IP."