Copyright and Use of Content

Copyright Ownership and Prohibited Uses

The Japan Times Publishing, Ltd. (the “Company”) publishes books, English-learning newspapers, digital materials, and other educational content. Copyrights in the Company’s publications, English-learning newspapers issued by the Company, and all text, charts, tables, photographs, illustrations, and other content posted on the Company’s websites or otherwise made available by the Company (collectively, the “Content”) belong to the Company or to third parties who hold the relevant rights. Except as permitted under applicable copyright laws, the user may not reproduce, edit, translate, adapt, broadcast, publish, sell, rent, publicly transmit, make transmittable, upload, or otherwise use the Content without the Company’s prior permission.

Use of Content by Schools and Educational Institutions

Schools and other nonprofit educational institutions may reproduce or publicly transmit copyrighted works only to the extent permitted under applicable copyright laws. Materials such as textbooks, workbooks, and other learning materials that are intended to be purchased by each learner may not be reproduced, copied, scanned, digitized, distributed, publicly transmitted, or otherwise made available through the internet or any other means without the Company’s permission. Even where the use is for classes or instructional purposes, any use that would substitute for the purchase of the relevant materials is not permitted because it would unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner.
Educational institutions and training providers other than those described above, including preparatory schools, cram schools, private tutoring services, corporate training facilities, and other commercial educational institutions or services, may not reproduce, copy, scan, digitize, distribute, publicly transmit, or otherwise make the Content available through the internet or any other means without the Company’s prior permission.

Use of Content in Online Lessons and Similar Services

When using the Content in online lessons or similar services, the user may not transmit, distribute, stream, display, screen-share, or otherwise make the Content available by any means without the Company’s permission. As a limited exception, the Content may be used without the Company’s permission only where all instructors, teachers, lecturers, students, learners, and other participants each lawfully own or possess the relevant purchased material, and the display of the Content is strictly limited to the minimum extent essential to instruction. For example, an instructor may temporarily display only one specific question or chart on the screen while explaining that particular item. Any use beyond this limited scope is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, distributing or streaming recorded lessons that contain the Content, screen-sharing the Content with participants who have not purchased the relevant material, or displaying substantial portions of the Content during an online lesson.

Prohibition on Creating and Publishing Derivative Learning Materials

Except as permitted under applicable copyright laws, the user may not reproduce all or any part of the Content or its structure, or modify, translate, adapt, rearrange, or otherwise use the Content to create learning or instructional materials, including summaries, study notes, mock examinations, collections of similar questions or exercises, explanatory videos, or other learning or teaching materials (collectively, the “Derivative Learning Materials”). Creating the Derivative Learning Materials based on the Content may infringe not only copyright law, but also trademark law, unfair competition law, and other applicable laws.
The user may not upload, publish, distribute, share, stream, or otherwise make the Derivative Learning Materials available to any third party through the internet, social media services, video-sharing platforms, learning management systems, file-sharing services, or any other means. This prohibition applies even if the Derivative Learning Materials were originally created for the user’s own private study.

Use of Content by Libraries

Use of cover images for introduction purposes: Libraries may use only the cover image of any of the Company’s publications for the purpose of introducing that publication in library newsletters, websites, social media posts, or other similar materials, without applying for permission from the Company. However, the cover image must not be cropped, altered, edited, or modified, and the title, author name, and publisher name must be clearly indicated.
Lending of supplementary materials: Books accompanied by supplementary CDs, QR codes for audio downloads, or similar supplementary materials may be lent as they are. Library users may play or access the relevant audio outside the library, provided that such use remains within the scope permitted by applicable laws and the terms applicable to the relevant material.

Use of Cover Images on Social Media and Websites

The user may use only the cover image of any of the Company’s publications for the purpose of introducing that publication in social media posts, websites, blogs, or other similar materials, without applying for permission from the Company. However, the cover image must not be cropped, altered, edited, or modified, and the title, author name, and publisher name must be clearly indicated.
Use of cover images for product sales, advertising, decoration, merchandising, promotional campaigns, or any purpose beyond introduction requires the Company’s prior permission. If the user is uncertain whether a particular use is permitted, the user must contact the Company in advance in all cases.

Prohibited Uses Relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Without the Company’s prior written permission, the user may not engage in any of the following acts with respect to the Content:
- incorporating the Content into any dataset used for AI training or for the development of machine learning models;
- using the Content for text and data mining or similar machine-processing purposes;
- providing, transferring, uploading, or otherwise making the Content available to any AI service provider or other third party for AI training purposes;
- obtaining data from the Content by circumventing, disabling, avoiding, or interfering with any technical protection measures, access controls, or other technological measures designed to prevent or restrict extraction, reproduction, transmission, or use of the Content; or
- obtaining the Content by automated means, including bots, crawlers, scrapers, or similar technologies.
Entering, uploading, submitting, or otherwise providing all or any part of the Content to a generative AI tool, or using outputs generated from such input may constitute an infringement of copyright, a violation of applicable laws, or a breach of these terms.

Measures against Copyright Infringement

If the Company discovers or reasonably suspects any act that constitutes an infringement of copyright, a violation of applicable laws, or a breach of these terms, including unauthorized reproduction, unauthorized uploading, or unauthorized use for AI-related purposes, the Company may take all measures it considers necessary or appropriate under applicable laws. Such measures may include, without limitation, requesting removal or suspension of the infringing material, seeking disclosure of relevant information, claiming damages, seeking an injunction, or pursuing any other legal remedies available under applicable laws.

Copyright and Permissions

For permission requests or inquiries concerning copyright, please contact the Company through the form below:

[Contact details / link to inquiry form]

Information submitted through the form or otherwise provided to the Company will be used only for the purposes of confirming the relevant facts, responding to the inquiry, processing permission requests, and protecting the Company’s rights. The Company will handle such information appropriately in accordance with its Privacy Policy.

“Don’t Do This! Examples of Copyright Infringement”

General Prohibited Uses

Unauthorized copying or scanning: You may not copy printed learning materials or scan them into PDF files for the purpose of sharing them with friends or other people.
Unauthorized uploading: You may not post the content of our learning materials on websites, social media, blogs, video-sharing platforms, or similar services.
Unauthorized modification: You may not rewrite, edit, alter, or otherwise modify our text, illustrations, or other content, or use content that has been modified in this way.

Prohibited Uses in Schools and Online Lessons

Sharing learning materials: Schools, teachers, or instructors may not conduct classes by distributing photocopies, scanned copies, or PDF files of our learning materials to students. Each student must purchase their own copy of the relevant material.
Excessive screen-sharing: Even if all participants in an online lesson own the relevant material, you may not display large portions of the material on the screen in a way that allows participants to see most of its content. Any display must be limited to the minimum extent essential to instruction.

Prohibited Uses of Cover Images

Modifying cover images: You may not crop, change the color of, or place other images, text, or designs over the cover images of our books or English-learning newspapers.
Using cover images for purposes other than introduction: You may not use cover images as decoration for a website, as part of a banner advertisement, or for similar purposes unrelated to introducing our books or English-learning newspapers.

Prohibited Uses Relating to AI

Using our content for AI training: You may not use our content as training data for generative AI or other AI systems.
Entering our materials into AI tools: Teachers, instructors, or other users may not enter our learning materials into generative AI tools to generate questions, explanations, derivative learning materials, or other materials for lessons or instruction.