Copyright in the Internet Age

Although the Japanese government is strengthening intellectual property as a cornerstone of its IT policy, it is considering procuring open-source software itself. The United States has enacted the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyrights Act), which is criticized as offering excessive copyright protection. But it is estimated that more than 90% of software and audio CDs are pirated in China. Furthermore, the number of people using P2P (Peer-to-Peer) software such as Gnutella, KaZaA, WinMX is presumed to exceed 70 million. To counter such developments, the software and content industries have started a new online music distribution service, based on the DRM (Digital Rights Management), but it is difficult to predict how successful it will prove to be as a business.

RIETI would like to welcome Mr. Richard Stallman, the leader of the GNU project which created Linux, to discuss these policy issues. During the symposium's keynote address, Mr. Stallman will speak about "The Future of Free Software" and the creative spirit in software development. This will be followed by a panel discussion conducted by Japanese policy and industrial specialists. The panel will discuss how the Japanese government is taking on policy challenges such as open-source software, P2P, DRM, government procurement and so on.