The house fell. According to information from the Anime News Network Japanese government considers cosplayers copyright laws meaning that cosplayers who earn money from this activity have to pass on part of the amount received to the organizations.
In the report, it is said that the government is currently investigating the situation, seeking opinions from both companies that own the copyright and cosplayers, however, so far no legislation has yet been proposed. This would only affect cosplayers who make money from their activities, and would not affect people who cosplay just for leisure.
Currently, many cosplayers earn money through different activities, such as subscription services, selling photos and videos, as well as earning fees by participating in events. The question at the moment in the Japanese government is whether or not cosplay violates copyright law by reproducing content, or adaptation rights law – which is something that has been discussed in the cosplayer community for some time.
Finally Tarō Yamada, a member of the Japanese government and leader of the “Freedom of Expression Protection Party” said that it is possible to maintain the “ecosystem” that benefits both companies that own image copyrights and cosplayers in a fair way and that , as one of the government members dealing with this issue, he is investigating a way to maintain Japanese copyright laws in the era of “user-generated content”.
