A subcommittee of a government advisory panel compiled a report Friday calling for rules to clarify the legal responsibility of Internet service providers for copyright infringements, subcommittee sources said.
The subcommittee of the Copyright Council, an advisory organ to the education minister, proposed that ISPs should convey protests to alleged copyright violators if informed of possible infringements, the sources said.
If no objections are filed by named violators, ISPs should be exempted from any legal responsibility with regard to either the copyright holders or the violators should they take action such as shutting down the offending Web sites, the panel said.
The Cultural Affairs Agency, in consultation with the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry, will incorporate the proposed rules in a bill on ISPs' legal responsibility for copyright infringements it is to submit to next year's regular Diet session, the sources said.
The panel said ISP personnel should not be held legally responsible for copyright infringements if they are unaware of them as it would be "impractical" to oblige ISPs to monitor everything on the Web. But ISPs should assume liability for damages if they have been involved in piracy, it said.
The panel also called for ISPs to create a system to disclose information on Internet-based content providers with permission from the courts to help resolve disputes between copyright holders and alleged violators.
The panel's report comes in response to mounting calls to clarify the responsibility and legal liability of ISPs with regard to copyright infringements in view of the absence of legal precedents.