This course covers the basics of the Japanese copyright law with particular attention to issues of copyrightability, exceptions, substantial similarity and neighboring rights. Students will learn how the copyright law works in the entertainment industry based upon the lecturer’s 32 years of experience as a legal advisor in the music industry. International aspects will also be covered. The learning objectives of this course include (1) to be able to acquire the basic knowledge about the Japanese copyright law, (2) to be able to point out what legal issues are under copyright law, and (3) to be able to understand legal theories of court decisions and scholars’ opinions on legal issues.