Protecting IP Licenses and Jointly Owned IP in the Age of COVID-19: Insolvency and Force Majeure Events under Japanese Law
Protecting IP Licenses and Jointly Owned IP in the Age of COVID-19: Insolvency and Force Majeure Events under Japanese Law
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在 COVID-19 时代保护知识产权许可和共同拥有的知识产权：日本法律规定的破产和不可抗力事件
DOI：
10.1093/grurint/ikab008
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发表时间：
2021
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Ayako Suga
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kei Matsumoto;Christoph Rademacher;Ayako Suga
本文概述并讨论了日本法律下与知识产权许可相关的众多问题。作者概述了主要解决知识产权被许可人在许可人破产情况下的地位的立法过程的结果，包括2020年日本版权法修正案，并研究了日本知识产权许可法规的全面改革是否更适合为商标、商业秘密和数据被许可人提供更好的保护。鉴于日本公司通常同意共同拥有软件开发和其他共同开发项目过程中产生的IP，我们分析了共同所有权与非排他性许可相比的风险。为了进一步说明这种风险在跨境星座中可能更加重要，我们对委托开发新软件的一方在没有获得软件开发商同意的情况下根据日本，美国和德国专利和版权法可以采取的行动进行了比较研究。此外，我们还审查在一方破产或不可抗力事件影响的情况下可能出现的某些未解决的问题，并就如何在起草和谈判知识产权许可协议时解决这些问题提供建议。
This article provides an overview and discussion of a multitude of issues that are relevant for IP licensing under Japanese law. The authors recap the results of the legislative process that predominantly addressed the IP licensee’s position in the case of a licensor's insolvency, including the 2020 amendment to the Japanese Copyright Act, and examine whether a comprehensive reform of IP licensing regulations in Japan would be preferable to also offering better protection to trademarks, trade secrets and data licensees. Given that Japanese companies often agree on jointly owning IP generated in the process of software development and other co-development projects, we analyze the risks of joint ownership compared to non-exclusive licenses. To further illustrate such risks that may be even more significant in cross-border constellations, we conduct a comparative study on the actions that a party commissioning the development of new software can take without obtaining the software developer’s consent under Japanese, US and German patent and copyright law. Furthermore, we examine certain unresolved issues that may arise in the case of a party’s insolvency or the impact offorce majeureevents, and provide suggestions on how to address these when drafting and negotiating IP license agreements.