Pictogram and Copyright

Zen International Patents and Trademarks

Pictogram is used to simply represent a certain data or information.

In Japan, Pictogram was developed at the time of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic.

It has been considered that Pictograms lack creativity and should be denied copyright protection in Japan.

However in 2015, Osaka district court ruled that the Pictogram showing "Osaka Castle" (see the image) has creativity and it should be protected by copyright law.

Follow me!