Japan News Media Group Submits Opinion on Draft of Code to Protect Intellectual Property over Generative AI

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, January 28, 2026

A media association welcomed the formulation of a draft code to protect intellectual property compiled by the government in its opinion letter submitted on Monday, as the number of artificial intelligence services that use news articles and other media content without authorization continues to increase.

However, there are still concerns about the effectiveness of the code, and the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association urged further consideration, including the establishment of a legal system.

The provisional title is the Principle Code, which is directed at providers of generative artificial intelligence services.

The draft of the code was published by the Cabinet Office in December, and opinions were solicited from the public. The code requires developers and providers of generative AI to follow several principles, including: not infringing on the intellectual property rights of others with regard to data used for AI training; respecting measures taken by website operators to prevent unauthorized use; and responding to requests for disclosure of training data by rights holders.

The association said the proposed code “is an important step forward in the appropriate protection of intellectual property such as news content.” However, it is unclear whether business operators will comply with the code because it does not include penalties, and there are still concerns about its effectiveness.

The opinion letter urged the government to actively promote awareness of and compliance with the code, especially among influential overseas operators, and to consider promptly enacting legislation if no improvement is seen.

The Cabinet Office plans to discuss further the contents of the code with an expert panel based on the public comments that were received.