[KineJapan] Stills from Tōhō

Wed May 8 21:32:42 EDT 2024

 A question, because I'm not over Japanese copyright law, and haven't fully read or understood what's at https://www.cric.or.jp/english/clj/cl2.html : Many countries have 1952 or so as a cut-off date for PD, as the Berne agreement makes it a date. Is NHK's use of 1953 related to that? 
>From what I know Japan has on paper pretty standard 'fair dealing' IP law, not 'fair use' (as is the USA), and also has moral rights which mean 'authors' who died after 1967 have rights for 70 years after death (and AK died in 1998, of course). This seemed to be the case from a partially-English forum on Japanese copyright law and cinema at Yamagata maybe 10 years back. Fair dealings is a tighter IP environment, which is why the US can have the Internet Archive and most other nations nothing like it. However, the additional issue often talked about here is the annoying risk-adverse legal, corporate and public-culture environment in Japan. So whatever the law says, or reforms reported (https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Media-Entertainment/Japan-to-allow-freer-sharing-of-content-with-obscure-copyrights) actually behaviour is another thing. 
In the US, IP risk-taking tends gets tested in the courts. Can anyone thing of recent Japanese legal cases where IP law boundaries related to cultural production get tested, such as with the Internet Archive's recent fight with the US publishing industry?
Quentin Turnour

    On Thursday, 9 May 2024 at 09:26:37 am AEST, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:  

 J-Flicks on NHK World has told me something akin to what Jasper wrote. They are starting a classics bit for each episode now, and I'll be doing the first batch. They are keen on big, famous directors (Ozu again), and 1953 is their cut-off date. I find their willingness to take the public domain rule refreshing. 
But when I suggested doing pre-1953 Kurosawa they immediately said no. The family was aggressive and problematic. It isn't worth the predictable fight. 
Markus

--- 
Markus NornesProfessor of Asian Cinema

Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/
Department of Film, Television and Media
6348 North Quad
105 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285

On Thu, May 9, 2024 at 6:16 AM Jasper Sharp via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

In defense of Toho, I believe they are more circumspect with publicity materials like stills for the films of Kurosawa and Honda due to issues with the estates of these directors. That aside, as with any of the major studios, if you ask for image production permissions or access, they'll quote some outlandish fee, just because of inhouse bureaucracy and the fact they've got bigger fish to fry. I've no contact myself at Toho, but I suspect if you did try, they'd probably ignore or dismiss your request and you are probably better off asking Kawakita instead- who in my experience have more stills for most films than the studios do themselves.

From: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Miyao, Daisuke via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Sent: 08 May 2024 18:32
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Miyao, Daisuke <dmiyao at ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Stills from Tōhō Dear Ann,
I had a similar experience. I decided not to include stills from Neko to Shozo inCinema Is a Cat. Too bad because they do have wonderful images!  (And the film is not available on DVD, either!) I hope the things will change for the better!
Best,Daisuke
Daisuke MiyaoProfessor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and LiteratureDirector of Film StudiesUniversity of California, San Diego

From: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Earl Jackson via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 11:51 PM
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Earl Jackson <earljac at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Stills from Tōhō Hi Ann,When Victor Fan and I coedited Nang, we even had a special agent mediate contract with Toho and it was a nightmare of irrationality andbizarre indifference. I hope you fare better.bestej
Earl JacksonChair ProfessorForeign Languages and LiteraturesAsia UniversityProfessor EmeritusNational Chiao Tung UniversityAssociate Professor EmeritusUniversity of California, Santa Cruz

On Wed, May 8, 2024 at 12:52 PM Anne McKnight via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

Hi all~

Would anyone have a contact at Tōhō for stills permissions/purchase? I’m nearing the end of a book, a long translation and essay on Kurosawa Akira, and need to get permissions for 2 stills that Kurosawa Pro does not have; they told me to inquire at Tōhō. Stills are from 「まあだだよ」and from 「一番美しく」.  It’s possible Kurosawa Pro might introduce me to the right person, but in the interest of wrapping this up, if anyone has worked with someone lately and would be comfortable with relaying the contact, either here or via personal email, I would be super appreciative.

Thanks!

Anne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Associate Professor, Dept of Comparative Literature and Languages/Japanese
Mail: 2401 HMNSS Building
UC Riverside, Riverside CA, 92521  USA

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