Biotechnology venture company MYTECH of Kobe, Japan filed a patent application for early detection technology for cancer. However, one of the listed co-applicants and researchers, Associate Professor Hiroaki Ito of Showa University Koto Toyosu Hospital (Tokyo), has accused MYTECH of robbing him of credit for what he had really invented first.

Now JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) has formally begun a further step in its mission to enforce copyright in a range of public space. On September 25, 2017, the Sapporo District Court in Hokkaido began the initial oral hearings in JASRAC’s first case against haircutting establishments that are allegedly playing songs for which JASRAC administers copyright. The barbershop owner claimed that he was using music lacking copyright over the past three years for which JASRAC demands royalty payment.