CHAPTER 8

JAPANESE DIGITAL INFORMATION: POLICY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ECONOMICS

Michael Ian Shamos

INTRODUCTION

This chapter compares and contrasts the United States and Japan in these important respects:

• National policy. Is the government organized for and committed to digital library development on a large scale?
• Copyright. Is the copyright system structured to facilitate digital libraries while providing fair reward to content creators?
• Economic models. Are payment mechanisms in place that permit users to receive proprietary content and distribute revenue to content owners?

The conclusion is that in the first two areas Japan is significantly ahead of the United States. Japan is not perceived to lead in the area of economic models for reasons discussed below.