As in other countries, the field of IT law in Japan is rapidly evolving to match the fast-paced development of the industry.

Our priority is to accumulate the relevant know-how and technical information in this field that allows us to understand, and be in a position to advise on, even the most recent laws and changes to the laws related to intellectual property and the like. From this perspective, we continually make every effort to provide relevant advice regarding leading-edge technology and its applicable laws. We build on our wealth of experience and knowledge to apply it to negotiating and drafting agreements in the IT field and to render advice regarding new IT businesses. Typical agreements and legal problems that arise related to IT are as follows:

• software development, sales, and maintenance agreements;
• software license agreements;
• IT consulting agreements;
• terms of website use agreements;
• website privacy policy terms;
• website advertising;
• e-commerce;
• domain name protection;
• legal issues regarding protection of content on the Internet and its distribution;
• dealing with the ownership of intellectual property rights and the rights themselves;
• website owner responsibilities and disclaimers;
• compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act;
• Internet security issues and systems security issues;
• validity of electronic signatures and electronic acknowledgments;
• file-sharing;
• Internet bulletin boards, and posting on websites; and
• unification of broadcasting and telecommunications.