./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/145
13 July 1999
(99-2886)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
WORK PROGRAMME ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Communication from Japan
The following communication has been received by the Secretariat from the Permanent
Mission of Japan on 7 July 1999.
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I. BACKGROUND
1. The TRIPS Agreement, a multilateral ruling for the protection of intellectual property rights,
which was concluded in the Uruguay Round, is a major breakthrough for promoting the liberalization
and facilitation of trade and investment.
2. Due to the development of digital and network technology, electronic commerce has spread
rapidly and widely, and is expected to further develop into one of the new tools for trade andinvestment.
3. The General Council established the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce
1 for relevant
WTO bodies, and the TRIPS Council has worked on this programme since its inception.
4. Japan herewith submits the following proposals for further discussion on those aspects of the
TRIPS Agreement which concern electronic commerce.2
II. PROPOSALS
5. Effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights is essential for promoting the
liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment.  To ensure appropriate and secure circulation of
digital contents through electronic commerce, whether they be tangible forms such as books and CDs,or intangible forms such as online data, intellectual property rights should be protected appropriately.
6. The language used in the TRIPS Agreement is generally neutral with regard to technology.
Therefore, rights given to the right holder under the rules of the current agreement and the exceptions
should continue to be applied under the new digital or network environment.
7. The digital or network environment is rapidly developing, and it seems that future
technological progress related to electronic commerce will continue to develop as well.  Therefore,
issues such as adequate protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights;  the relationship
between domain names and trademarks or "indications";  international jurisdiction (choice of forum);
                                                     
1 WT/L/274.
2 This submission does not necessarily prejudice our future position on this matter.IP/C/W/145
Page 2
and conflict of laws (choice of law) should be discussed further, though it should be noted that any
such discussions should be wary of any hasty rule-making which could distort a particular aspect.
8. In addition, these issues are being discussed in other fora, and some outputs have been
produced.  Such outputs should be discussed further within the context of the WTO, consideringcarefully possible distortions as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
9. Finally, regarding future examination of intellectual property rights related to electronic
commerce, the following points should be noted:
(a) The scope of the electronic commerce to be discussed should be clearly defined,
paying particular attention to the current status of electronic commerce.
(b) Issues regarding international jurisdiction (choice of forums) and conflict of laws
(choice of laws) which relate to the infringement of intellectual property rights as
well as those substantive unified disciplines of IPR protection, should be examined
bearing in mind the applicability of current international agreements.
In addition, as to the issue of jurisdiction and conflict of applicable laws, it would be useful
that the study or survey of the current legislation (statute or case law) in each member country is
conducted, based on concrete and typical cases which have occurred or could occur, for example, the
infringement case regarding to copyright or neighbouring right issues on content.
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