Difference Between the United States and Japan Fair Use Exceptions

Japan has a very different approach to copyright law and Fair Use than the United States, and this has caused a few issues on YouTube in recent years. Japan does not have explicit laws that create protections similar to the U.S. Fair Use defense. Instead, Japan has a “Moral Rights of Authors” Subsection that states “The author of a work has the right to preserve the integrity of that work and its title, and is not to be made to suffer any alteration, cut, or other modification thereto that is contrary to the author's intention”. This means the authors of the original works have the final say on the visibility of videos that use their works without a license in their respective country.

Other YouTubers create different styles of content and have faced similar copyright issues. Two prominent YouTube channels are Team Four Star and TotallyNotMark. Team Four Star is a team of creators who have created parody works such as Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, and more. As for TotallyNotMark, his channel focuses on discussion and analysis videos of anime shows such as One Piece and Dragon Ball.

Anime Abridged and Review Content

Example of Team Four Star’s abridged content

Team Four Star previously created abridged parody-style content. However, this style of content could potentially infringe on the company's exclusive right to create derivatives. Their abridged works could be eligible for Fair Use because they take an existing anime and create original scripts, re-edit character animations, create their own versions of the musical arrangements, and create comedic derivatives of the original works, which might be deemed “transformative.” Team Four Star strived to create “original, monetizable, and copyright-friendly content” while showing their love and passion for the original works. Outside of Japan, since the videos are still public, it suggests that YouTube found that their videos qualified for a Fair Use exception. Toei blocked many of their videos in Japan, suggesting that they felt these videos infringed on Japan's copyright laws. In the end, Team Four Star stopped the production of these videos to ease the tension between them and copyright holders, and they explained in their Patreon post here.

TotallyNotMark is a YouTuber who creates anime content, including reviews, critiques, and analyses. These styles of content are recognized as "activities that may qualify as fair use" under the United States Copyright Act (1976). In December of 2021, Toei blocked over one hundred and fifty of his videos, even those that didn't include any copyrighted footage. Toei sent YouTube over one hundred and fifty take-down notices, and Mark explains what YouTube did in response to this in the video linked below (from 2:47 - 3:46).

A major reason behind Mark’s Videos being reinstated on his channel was due to the difference in Fair Use laws in Japan and other countries. Mark’s videos included criticism, commentary, and news, as well as a larger proportion of original content compared to copyrighted material. Along with his open love and passion for several of the shows he reviews and analyzes, these factors could have indicated that the videos would not harm the potential market value of the copyrighted works. Taking into account the differing approaches to copyright law and Fair Use in the U.S. and Japan, YouTube did something they’d previously never done before in their copyright system process which TotallyNotMark Explains in the video linked below (from 9:49 - 10:41).