ちょさくけん or はんけん

[buck4155967]

The dictionary gives me three options for the word copyright, two of which seem applicable:
著作権 - ちょさくけん
版権 - はんけん
What is the difference?

[Tracel]

Hi Buck,

I looked up copyright, and it looks like it will depend on the context in which you want to use that word.　Often Japanese will have several different words for a single one in English, and that appears to be the case here. The reverse is also sometimes true, that one Japanese word takes on several different words in English depending on the context.

The only way that I have found to find which word you want, is to look further at the compound words that can be made using that word. So with this in mind, here are some examples:

版権(はんけん)：

版権(はんけん)所有者(しょゆうしゃ)　－　Copyright holder
版権(はんけん)侵害(しんがい)　－　Copyright infringement

著作権(ちょさくけん)：

著作権法(ちょさくけんほう)　－　（Japanese）Copyright Act
著作権(ちょさくけん)侵害(しんがい)　－　Infringement of copyright (software, etc.) Piracy.
著作権(ちょさくけん)所有者(しょゆうしゃ)　－　Copyright holder (the difference between this and the one above may be in the type of copyright you are talking about legally？)
著作権(ちょさくけん)図書館(としょかん)　－　Copyright library
万国(ばんこく)著作権(ちょさくけん)条約(じょうやく)　－　Universal Copyright Convention

By far the most compounds are formed using 著作権(ちょさくけん), but all of the English translations have the word "copyright" in them.

I hope this helps you. I certainly have memorized several words for copyright now

トラセル

[buck4155967]

Hmmm... I'm not at the point where I can look up information as well as you, and thank you very much for doing so.

Of the choices you provided, which one would best fit at the bottom of a website to indicate the general site is copyrighted?

[Tracel]

Hi again,

I did a little reading on Japanese Wiki, and it looks like the term 著作権　may be the right one for this. But what about using the copyright symbol ©, which is used and understood worldwide I believe?

Just for interest's sake, the site I got it from was: http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/plus/q/65052/ It is all in Japanese and beyond most of us on this site, but I post it here for the benefit of one of the teachers if they wonder where I got the information.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
「版権」は明治時代に福沢諭吉がcopyrightの訳語として作り出したものと考えられています。明治20年には単独の著作権立法として「版権条例」が制定されました。1999年の著作権法では「著作権」の語が「版権」に代わり、法律上は「版権」の語は廃止されました。
「作品の著作権は新聞社に属する」と読み替えて頂いて結構かと存じます。

I think the gist is (with a healthy amount of help from google translate):
Yukichi Fukuzawa used the word 「版権」 as a translation for the word "copyright" in the Meiji era. In 1887, the "Copyright Act" 「版権条例」 was enacted as independent copyright legislation. In the Copyright Act of 1999, the word 「著作権」 is used in place of 「版権」, and the word 「版権」 was legally removed.
I suggest using the sentence "Copyright 「著作権」 of the work belongs to the newspaper".
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

It is the last sentence of the lot that convinced me of using 「著作権」.

But hey, I don't really know what I am talking about. I just thought it would be fun to try and read the Japanese .

[Tracel]

I thought I would share this too because it was pretty funny. I cut and pasted the Japanese from that site into Google translate and this is what it gave me　（Notice how the word "copyright" is used for everything?):

★"Copyright" is believed to Yukichi Fukuzawa is produced as a translation of the copyright in the Meiji era. "Copyright Act" was enacted as copyright legislation alone in 1887. The term "copyright" is an alternative to the "copyright" in the Copyright Act of 1999, the term "copyright" has been removed legally.

I propose that I am either very well substitute "copyright of the work belongs to the newspaper" he said.★

[community.japanese]

Buck-san, トラセルsan,
kon'nichiwa
Wow, トラセルsan, thank you very much for a complete explanation!
You're right; it seems the word 版権 was an old term for 著作権 (probably not many people know this word 版権
any longer), and as a legal word, it was replaced by 著作権 in 1899.

版権 was a short version of 出版の特権, which was established by Yukichi Fukuzawa
This means the literal meaning of 版権 was "right to publish".

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com