On December 15 2009, the IP High Court of Japan rendered a decision dismissing a request for a preliminary injunction by an applicant wanting to prevent the respondent from initiating legal action in a foreign country.
The dispute occurred over the right to exploit in foreign countries certain motion pictures, which were originally created by the respondent in Japan a few decades ago. The applicant alleged that it had an exclusive right to such exploitation of the motion pictures and requested the respondent not to allege that the applicant had no right of exploitation or to initiate any legal action regarding the same in a foreign country.
The notable aspect of the decision is the Court's application of Japanese law, which is an exception to the general conflict of laws rules in Japan that provide for tort claims to be determined, in principle, based on the law of the country where the result caused by the alleged tort occurs unless another country has a closer relationship with the alleged tort. (Act on General Rules for Application of Laws of Japan)
The Court based its application of Japanese law on its finding that Japan had a closer relationship with the dispute than any other country in light of the facts, such as: both parties were located in Japan, both parties had reached their relevant decisions regarding the motion pictures in Japan and the result of an alleged act – legal action in a foreign country – would affect the applicant, a Japanese corporation.
However, the Court did not make its position clear as to whether any legal action regarding this dispute before foreign courts would be held illegal under Japanese law, especially the Unfair Competition Prevention Law of Japan. In sum, the Court dismissed the request for preliminary injunction by denying the satisfaction of a certain requirement under the Unfair Competition Prevention Law of Japan and the necessity for a preliminary injunction in light of the fact that the applicant had not specified even a single country in which legal action was likely to be initiated.
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| Yasufumi Shiroyama |
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
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