May 02, 2008
According to a recent Yahoo! News article (link below), the Japanese finance ministry has been forced to stop production of one of its latest commemorative coins based on a claim of copyright infringement. The original commemorative coin showed bronze sculptures of a family standing in Brazil to celebrate 100 years of Japanese emigration to Brazil, with an image of the sculptures appearing on approximately 5 million minted 500 yen coins. However, a private sculptor, and not an immigrants association in Brazil that entered into an agreement with the Japanese finance ministry, owns the rights to the works, and the sculptor decided not to allow Japan to reproduce the work on the coins. According to the Yahoo! article, the Japanese finance ministry will spend ~$50,000 - $100,000 (5-10 million yen) to redesign the coin, but as reported by the Japan Times (link below), “[t]he government has thus been forced to adopt a new design featuring a Brazilian map and the ship Kasato Maru, which transported the first Japanese emigrants to Santos.”
Yahoo! News Article: LINK
The Japan Times Article: LINK
Yahoo! News Article: LINK
The Japan Times Article: LINK
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