The Information Disclosure Obligation Of Japanese Internet Service Provider In Intellectual Property Infringement Suit

The information disclosure obligation of internet service provider in intellectual property infringement suit refers to the internet service provider who demanded to disclose the identification information of the senders at the intellectual property rights holder or courts or administrative authorities' requests in the infringement of intellectual property disputes. To undertake the obligation, a series of issues must be clarified: how to do between the obligation of information disclosure and confidentiality obligation for the internet service providers? If it should be disclosed, then what information shall be disclosed, how to disclose, and what responsibilities should bear when improper disclosure? Unfortunately, the academic world in our country has not paid enough attention to above issues, and there are also many puzzled problems existing in practice among the interest subjects. By contrast, Japan has designed a set of complete, detailed and operable system about information disclosure related issues. In this article, the establishment background and main contents of related system of Japan will be introduced and evaluated. In order to create and perfect related system in field of intellectual property rights in our country, the author will explore that what salutary experiences we can use for reference from Japan. Specifically, this article is divided into four parts.The first part analyzes the establishment background of the information disclosure obligation in Japan. Firstly, it's a common real demand for intellectual property rights holders, Internet service providers and internet users to establish the obligation. Secondly, there is no rigid restriction that which type of internet service providers must assume the obligation in Japan. Thirdly, Japan's academic circles mostly hold positive attitude to the information disclosure system. Under this premise, many of them will put forward reasonable proposals according to the change and development of the network technology and the new situation in practice.The second part introduces the system's main contents of Japan. Specifically, after receiving disclosure requests, internet service provider in Japan not only confirm the requestor's identity, infringing information, and whether the user's identification information be saved, but also shall listen to the opinions of the senders, and then judge the justification for disclosure and the visibility of infringement.The third part evaluates the information disclosure system of Japan comprehensively. By comparing with other countries or regions, we will know that Japan's related system reflects deep concern for the interests of internet users, and the provisions of disclosure procedures are quite detailed, complete and strong operability in practice. The most characteristic of the system is the Japanese internet service provider must act a quasi-judicial role in the information disclosure procedures.The fourth part discusses what salutary experiences we can learn from Japan. In order to create and perfect information disclosure system of internet service providers in field of intellectual property rights in our country, the author thinks that, firstly, our country can follow the example of Japan, the access service providers should also assume the same obligation, and the "justification “should be regarded as a prerequisite requirement for disclosure. Secondly, it is recommended that the disclosure requirements should be regulated strictly, and the alleged infringement users should be given opportunities to express their own opinions. Again, the scope of disclosure information should not be too wide, but necessary restrictions should be imposed at the legislative level. In addition, if the information is disclosed improperly, whether to execute the reasonable duty of care is an important factor to judge the internet service provider should take responsibilities or not.