Aozora Bunko
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Aozora Bunko (Template:Lang, Template:Lit, also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousand works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available.
Since its inception in 1997, Aozora Bunko has been both the compiler and publisher of an evolving online catalog.<ref name="intute">Intute: "Intute web site, Aozora Bunko project description" Template:Webarchive</ref> In 2006, Aozora Bunko began to take on a role as a public policy advocate to protect its current and anticipated catalog of freely accessible e-books.<ref name="a1">Template:Cite web</ref>
History and operation
Aozora Bunko was created on the Internet in 1997 to provide broadly available, free access to Japanese literary works whose copyrights had expired. The driving force behind the project was Michio Tomita (富田 倫生, 1952–2013), who was motivated by the belief that people with a common interest should cooperate with each other.<ref>"Electronic Library National Liaison Conference FY2003", National Diet Library Newsletter. No. 30, April 2003.</ref>
In Japan, Aozora Bunko is considered similar to Project Gutenberg.<ref name="jto2006">Tamura, Aya. "Novelists, others want copyright protection extended". The Japan Times Online. September 30, 2006.</ref> Most of the texts provided are works of Japanese literature, and some translations of English literature. The resources are searchable by category, author, or title; and there is a considerable amount of support on how to use the database in the form of detailed explanations. The files can be downloaded in PDF format or viewed online in HTML format.<ref name="intute" />
After the passing of Michio Tomita in 2013, the Template:Nihongo was established independently to assist funding and operations for Aozora Bunko.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Aozora Bunko currently includes more than 15,100 works Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Public policy advocacy
Aozora Bunko joined with others in organizing to oppose changes to the Japanese copyright law. That opposition has led to encouraging Japanese citizens to submit letters and petitions to the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and to members of the Japanese Diet.<ref name="a1"/>
Japan and other countries accepted the terms of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, an 1886 international agreement about common copyright policies. Aozora Bunko adopted an advocacy role in favor of continuing with the status quo, wherein laws do not go beyond the minimum copyright terms of the Berne Convention. These laws have copyrights that run for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years, which Aozora Bunko believes is preferable to changes proposed by a number of influential groups pushing for longer copyright terms.<ref name="a1"/>
The evolution of Aozora Bunko from a digital library to a public policy advocacy organization was an unintended consequence that developed only after the perceived threat to the Aozora Bunko catalog and mission became otherwise unavoidable.<ref name="jto2006"/>
Problems
Aozora Bunko pointed out that the extension of the copyright term had been influenced from the document titled "The U.S.–Japan Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through these annual reports, the US Government was requiring that the protected period of copyright should be extended to the Japanese government: 70 years after one's death for a work by an individual, and 95 years after publication for a work by a corporation. In response, the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan has expressed that a conclusion will be obtained at the Council for Cultural Affairs copyright subcommittee by the end of 2007. If the legal revision extending the protected period of copyright were actually carried out, Aozora Bunko would be forced to stop publishing books that had already been, or were about to be, released, due to the 20 years extension of the protection of copyright. Therefore, Aozora Bunko released a counter declaration against enforcement of the revised law on 1 January 2005, and they started to collect the signatures for a petition on 1 January 2007.<ref name="petition">Template:Cite web</ref>
Due to the regime change in Japan in 2009, the Japanese government stopped receiving these reports from the US government. Aozora Bunko did not respond to this, and their petition opposing the extension of the copyright term was discontinued after the October 2008 revision.<ref name="petition" />Template:Citation needed Instead of the document, the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative inserted the "UNITED STATES–JAPAN ECONOMIC HARMONIZATION INITIATIVE" in February 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the document, the US government promoted the extension of copyright law for protection of intellectual property rights toward Japanese government so that it would be "in line with emerging global trends, including those of its OECD counterparts and major trading partners."
On 30 December 2018, Japan did extend the period to 70 years,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which was a requirement stemming from the EU–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- Wikisource
- List of digital library projects
- Open Content Alliance
- Project Runeberg
- Open Rights Group
- Philosophy of copyright
- Japanese Historical Text Initiative
Notes
References
- Bovens, Andreas (2005). "Closed Architectures for Content Distribution," Japan Media Review (University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication); Yale University Conference (2004), "Reproduction in Modern Japan" -- paper abstract
- Donovan, Maureen H. (2006). Accessing Japanese Digital Libraries: Three Case Studies. Berlin: Springer. Template:ISBN.
- Lessig, Lawrence (2004). Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin Press. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN (cloth)
- Tamura, Aya. "Novelists, others want copyright protection extended", The Japan Times Online. September 30, 2006.
- Tomita, Michio. "Enable Library, Aozora Bunko as an 'Enable Library'". Gendai no Toshokan. Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 176–181 (1999).
- Tomita, Michio. "Dream of perpetual Aozora Bunko, a private electronic library," Art research (Ritsumeikan University). Vol.2, pp. 49–56 (2001).
- Yamamoto, Shuichiro. "What Is Knowledge That Generates Value?" Science Links Japan web site (2008).