[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, the members of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters exchanged views and then approved the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2015.

Based on the discussions, the Prime Minister said,

“We have just now approved the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2015.

We will advance the ‘program for promoting the utilization of regional intellectual property’ in order to strengthen the intellectual property strategies of small- and medium-sized companies in the regions, and to bolster collaborations with large companies and universities. Additionally, we will create a ‘public-private collaboration platform’ for matching ambitious enterprises, so that Japan’s content industries and peripheral industries can work together across different sectors to promote business overseas. With this as a focus, I hope the public and private sectors will collaborate and promote the Cool Japan strategy even further.

We will also advance comprehensive discussions on matters such as the most appropriate procedures for collecting evidence and compensation for legal damages, as part of our efforts to enhance the functionality of Japan’s intellectual property conflict management system. Furthermore, we will thoroughly discuss issues such as the most appropriate legal systems, including the maintenance of a Copyright Act that is suited to the digital network age in which we see the spread of technologies such as artificial intelligence and 3D printing.

I would like the Government to work together as one to promote our intellectual property strategy, so that we can make full use of Japan’s intellectual property, including our advanced technology and rich cultural content; raise our international competitiveness; and secure growth. I request your kind cooperation in this regard.”