Category:PD-JapanGov

Works in this category are public domain because, according to Article 13 of the Copyright Act of Japan, these works are not eligible for copyright. The provisions of Article 13 shall not grant copyright to a work falling under any of the following categories:

1. the Constitution and other laws and regulations;
2. public notices, instructions, circular notices and the like issued by organs of the State or local public entities, incorporated administrative agencies or local incorporated administrative agencies;
3. judgments, decisions, orders and decrees of courts, as well as rulings and judgments made by government agencies in proceedings of a quasi-judicial nature;
4. translations and compilations prepared by organs of the State or local public entities, incorporated administrative agencies or local incorporated administrative agencies of [any of] the materials listed in the preceding three items.

Works in this category are also in the public domain in the U.S. because they are edicts of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties."