Japan: Adopted legal interpretations of copyright law establishing differences in use of copyrighted works in AI training data and output data

On 15 May 2023, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs published a document on legal interpretations on artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright online after a meeting of the Cabinet Office's AI Strategy Team. The document interpreted the purpose of Japanese copyright law as protecting works that "creatively express thoughts or emotions", hence data (facts) or ideas (e.g., an artistic style or manner) were not considered copyrighted works. In the context of AI, the document differentiates between the use of copyrighted works for AI output (i.e., final generated images) and training or learning data. On the former, if creative expressions are identical or similar and can be recognised in the final generated image, the copyright owner can claim copyright infringement. On the latter, the document states in principle that copyrighted work can be used without the permission of the copyright holder as training data is "not aimed at enjoying the thoughts or emotions expressed in the copyrighted work".