A parting blow before book and bed:
[Japan's] Agency for Cultural Affairs is planning to extend the copyright protection period for movies to 70 years after release from the current 50 years, agency officials said Sunday. ...
Animation films and video game software products are also covered under the copyright law for movies. ... The decision will [obviously] draw a sigh of relief from the nation's movie industry, which has lobbied for such changes for more than a decade. Copyrights on several movies released in 1953 by celebrated directors, including Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story) by the late Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963), [would have expired] at the end of next December under the existing law.
Keiji Fukuda, an official of the Movie Picture Producers Association of Japan, said: "Japanese movies produced in the past are cultural assets [that is, property, but shouldn't cultural property be owned by everyone in a culture?]. I believe (the extension) is appropriate and fair when compared with the European Union, which [recently jumped off a bridge, setting in motion the construction of an even bigger bridge from which we will jump]."
Funny I didn't hear of this from any of the usual channels, but from my Japan Times Online subscription--but then, my last news scan was five hours ago.
