Copyright Act, quotation exception
Copyright Act, Act No. 48 of 1970, Art. 32
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force.
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 32(1) permits quoting and thereby exploiting a work that has already been made public, provided the quotation is consistent with fair practice and stays within a scope justified for the purpose of news reporting, critique, research, or another purpose for which the work is quoted.
This is the general ground under which reproducing a headline or a short extract of third-party journalism could be justified without the rights holder's authorization; it is a fair-practice standard rather than a fixed word or length threshold. A quotation exceeding this scope is copyright infringement, punished under Art. 119(1) by imprisonment with work for not more than ten years, a fine of not more than 10,000,000 yen, or both.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Quoting or otherwise exploiting a work beyond the fair-practice, purpose-justified scope Art. 32(1) permits is copyright infringement, punished by imprisonment with work for not more than ten years, a fine of not more than 10,000,000 yen, or both (Art. 119(1)).
Penalty structure
General copyright-infringement penalty under Art. 119(1); a quotation within Art. 32(1)'s fair-practice scope is not an infringement at all.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- JPY
- Fixed cap
- 10,000,000
What it reaches
Instrument type
statute
Categories
Snippet reproduction
When LexLint raises it
aggregates_content
Read the law
official statute text, Japanese Law Translation portal (Ministry of Justice)