This is because in July 2006, a Japanese court ruled that all films produced in Japan prior to 1953 were exempt from a change of copyright law changing the term for cinematographic works from 50 years after publication to 70 years. [1][2][3].

However, the Tokyo District Court ruled on 17 September 2007 that films by Akira Kurosawa (died 1998) remain copyrighted until 2036, ruling that an older pre-1971 law applies. That old law kept copyright protection for 38 years after the creator's death.

In 2008, the Intellectual Property High Court affirmed the lower court's decision. The report states the "Japanese Intellectual Property High Court ruling that establishes the Tokyo District Court's September 2007 decision to be correct," and that "the preceding judge Nobuyoshi Tanaka is quoted as stressing that 'the copyright over films is protected for 38 years from the year after the death of the director.'"

Please note that public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. The file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the United States. See also Copyright rules by territory.

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Note: The enforcement of the revised Copyright Act on December 30, 2018 extended the copyright term of works whose copyright was valid on that day to 70 years. Do not use this template for works published after 1967.

Please note that being in the public domain in Japan does not automatically mean that it is free as well in the United States. Find and add one of the PD US license tags in order to ensure that the file is free in the United States. Typically, for a published work to be in the public domain in the United States, it needs to be published before 1946, because of URAA-restored copyrights. Unpublished works need to satisfy {{PD-US-unpublished}}.

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