News Releases

September 14, 2016
Japanese Society for Rights of Authors,
Composers and Publishers
(JASRAC)

Withdrawal of JFTC Hearing Request

On September 9, 2016, JASRAC withdrew its request for hearings (dated April 30, 2009) which was submitted to the Japan Fair Trade Commission to demand the rescission of the cease-and-desist order issued against JASRAC by the JFTC.

The reasons for the withdrawal are enumerated from 1 to 4 below:

1. 1.   Only a hand-full of FM radio broadcasters were capable of providing census reportsⁱ of all musical works broadcast at the time the cease-and-desist order was initially issued. However, census reporting has since become commonplace, and the calculation of usage share based on actual usage records for each broadcaster, which is what the order demanded, is now possible.
2. 2.   With the change in circumstances stated in 1 as a backdrop, 5-Party Talksⁱⁱ commenced, producing an agreement on a method to calculate usage share applicable to broadcasting royalties collected for 2015 and onward. This means that, the issues that lead to the cease-and-desist order have in fact, for the most part, been resolved.
3. 3.   NexTone Inc.ⁱⁱⁱ withdrew their suit claiming damages and an injunction against JASRAC, and also withdrew their participation from the JFTC hearings, settling all legal disputes between the competing collective management organizations. Only the JFTC hearings process arguing the legitimacy of the cease-and-desist order remained.
4. 4.   Upon contemplating the changing circumstances stated in 1 through 3 above, JASRAC has concluded that, rather than continuing to litigate for the rescission of the cease-and-desist order, it would be much more beneficial to rights owners, music users, and other interested parties for JASRAC to withdraw its hearings request and to concentrate its full resources to its main operations.

JASRAC expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the assistance and encouragement received from rights owners, music users, foreign collective management organizations and other parties of interest.

It is JASRAC’s intention to concentrate its efforts on fulfilling its mission of contributing to the dissemination and development of music culture through the protection of copyrights and facilitation of the use of copyright works. To this end, JASRAC would appreciate the continued assistance and encouragement of those involved.

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ⁱ The reporting, in the form of electronic data, of all musical works used in broadcast programs to collective management organizations. The cease-and-desist order required JASRAC to reflect the share of JASRAC’s repertoire “within the total number of musical works used in broadcast programs by a broadcaster in calculating the broadcast royalties to be collected from the broadcaster in question.” Therefore, in order to realize this, it was essential that each broadcaster is able to report all musical works used.

ⁱⁱ Negotiations held between the three collective management organizations for music copyrights (e-License, Inc., Japan Rights Clearance, Inc. (JRC), and JASRAC), Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association (JBA), with the Agency for Cultural Affairs participating as an observer.

ⁱⁱⁱ Formerly e-License, Inc., which had merged with JRC on February 1, 2016.

<Reference> Chronology of the case [PDF: 48 KB]

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