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Some good news on Japan Copyright Law.

TOKYO — A government advisory panel on Monday basically approved a plan to tolerate the unlicensed use of copyrighted works unless the use unduly infringes on the interest of the copyright holder, government officials said.

After receiving a final report from the Council for Cultural Affairs next month, the government may submit a copyright law revision bill to the effect during a Diet session to be convened next month, they said.

The planned revision is designed to meet diversified uses of copyrighted works amid the spread of the Internet and information technologies, while copyright holders are concerned about possible abuses under the revision.

The plan says unlicensed use of a copyrighted work may be tolerated if the use itself is not the main purpose and the dependence on it is light, if the use is minor and reasonably required in the course of a legal use, or if the use is not aimed at seeing or hearing copyrighted expressions.

More specifically, it says there may be no problem if art shown at a film location site is filmed accidentally, or if video software is copied as a sample for technology development purposes.