The government is aiming to revise the law during the current Diet session with a view to enforcing it from July 1, strengthening controls on pirated products.

The law currently prohibits the import of products that infringe copyright, such as fake goods, but there is no regulation to ban the export of such products. Exports of counterfeit brand products and industrial products that infringe on patents have been banned since January with the revision of the law.

Japanese companies have suffered severe losses because of the massive amount of pirated Japanese software, including movies and TV drama DVDs and music CDs that are sold in the rest of Asia as well as in other overseas markets.

The government intends to request Asian countries to strengthen controls on pirated software by taking the initiative in banning exports of products that infringe copyright. The law will also be revised to control pirated software produced in other countries that is exported via Japan.

The revised Copyright Law, which was passed in the extraordinary Diet session at the end of last year, stipulates that the export of pirated software is deemed an act of copyright infringement.