Effectiveness Verification Implementation Method(Verification for fiscal 2022, implemented from January to February 2023)
This effectiveness verification is conducted to find out the continuous effectiveness ofinfringement prevention measures taken in the CtoC (consumer-to-consumer) markets
on the Internet such as auction and flea markets (from here on referred to as “CtoCmarkets”) by numerically measuring how many infringing goods and infringements
currently exist in the CtoC markets.
In addition, considering that the Third Working Group has been discussing theimplementation of countermeasures in the BtoC (business-to-consumer) markets, theverification will be conducted in these markets on a voluntary basis to understand how
effective the current measures are to prevent infringement.
Description
Date andAny one day during the period from January 10 to February 3

Frequency ofin 2023, regardless of time and day of the week. This will not

Verification:

preclude verification more than once during this period.

Services:<Auction>-Yahuoku!
-Mobaoku!
<Flea markets>-mercari-Rakuma-Shoppies-PayPay Fleama
This will not preclude conducting a voluntary fact-finding
survey on any other services in the CtoC and the BtoCmarkets.
1Verification Items:

Relevant organizations and companies will decide which
goods should be verified. However, they are to select thegoods where a fixed-point, long-term verification is possible.
This is because the same goods have to be verified in all
markets and a similar verification is necessary in the future as
well. This will not prevent them from choosing goods which
are different from those in the previous fiscal year.
In addition, the popularity of the items in the markets will betaken into account when choosing the goods for verification.
Attention: Names of companies or brands which are related tothe chosen goods do not have to be made public. However, it
is unavoidable to make public some information such as “awell-known U.S. maker of spreadsheet business software”
etc. Therefore, it is better to get approval from relevant
companies beforehand.

Methodology:

The effectiveness rate will be calculated by dividing thenumber of infringing goods and acts of infringements by theverification parameter.
Example: If 10 infringing goods are found among 100 items,
the infringement rate will be 10%.
If the number of goods for verification at the markets exceeds
100, the verification parameter will be 100. In this case, thetop 100 items in a search list (such as a list ranked byremaining time or a randomly created list) will be verified.
Note: In order to compare and analyze the verification results
every year and adopt equal conditions, those who verify
should try to use a list ranked by timing of the offer made withthe oldest one coming as near to the top and to verify the first
100 items from the list.
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In spite of the foregoing, if the number of verification items atthe markets exceeds 100, verifying more than 100 items will
not be precluded.
Voluntary verification: The voluntary verification, including themethods below, will not be precluded. However, each methodshould be clearly explained.
Some methods: To find other methods for the future and also
to examine trends of infringement and probabilities in themarkets, (1) to make a list of goods for verification at a certain
time and check if they are removed or not after a certain
interval and (2) to verify 100 goods chosen from the newestresults.
Judgment Criteria:

Any items that should be counted as infringing goods orexhibits of goods that infringe when they are deemed to beinfringing copyrights and/or trademarks by both Rights
Holders and market operators based on on-screen texts orimages and, at the same time, Rights Holders can makesuspension requests to market operators. Information onscreen includes not only those listed in searches but also
information on individual goods’ screens.
If a selected item infringes both a copyright and a trademark,it will be counted as an infringement of either of them.
The nature of the infringement will be indicated in the attached
Excel spreadsheet.
Note: Any items which may violate the Unfair Competition
Prevention Act will not be counted because we cannot make adefinitive judgment due to the nature of the Act.
As for CtoC markets, the Guidelines already exist. Therefore,3the following counting methods will be adopted.
However, the following goods’ data will be counted separately
form the above data. These are the goods that have no direct
grounds for infringement in the provided information (whenchecked against the Guidelines, etc.) that would allow CtoC
operators to remove them as infringing goods but havecharacteristics as in the following: (1) Goods which aredeemed to have infringed a copyright or trademark as a resultof appraisal of on-screen texts and images by Rights Holders
and if the Rights Holders make a request for removal, CtoC
operators can take action for removal (“Infringing Goods
Without Notice”), or (2) goods which are deemed as without
doubt being infringing goods if the Rights Holders purchaseand appraise the goods based on various pieces ofinformation (“Goods With a High Probability of Infringement”).
If any issues of concern arise during verification, it can beindicated in the margin by using a special note.
For example, there are some goods for which removal
requests may not be issued as infringing goods when checkedagainst the Guidelines. Therefore, they may not be the ones
with a high probability of infringement, but it is assumed thatillegal acts or rights-infringement acts have been committed.
Recording

Recording of the details of verification findings is voluntary.

Method:However, it is required to keep a record which is deemed as areasonable proof to show to third parties that the verification
results are based on actual work done. Procedures which will
become necessary to check the verification at a later dateshould be implemented. It is desirable that the information
obtained through the verification should be shared among
Rights Holders, Platformers and other relevant people.
Note: Proofs showing that the verification is implemented4

should be kept on hand by the verifier.
Reporting Method:

Fill out the attached Excel spreadsheet and submit it to thechief of the Rights Holders’ side of the committee by February
10, 2023.

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