Toshiyuki Kono – författare

At a time when there are still a number of voices calling for the Internet to remain a law-free zone, a whole bundle of conflicts have already emerged, many of which have found their way to lawyers and the courts in a substantial number of different jurisdictions. It surely now cannot be doubted that the Internet, like any other place in the world where people come together and follow their own interests, needs rules to be developed for the handling of such conflicts. Lawyers have already reacted and have created a new area of law - commonly called "law of the internet" or "cyberlaw". This area, however, is still far from being strictly defined. It touches on many existing areas of law, but at the same time it deals with a wholly new medium - cyberspace - which itself is subject to constant change and development. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that in a number of cases the predictions as to how this law will look at some selected moment in the future are vague and uncertain. This is particularly true for the commercial side of the Internet, for which the term "E-Commerce" has been coined. So rapid have been the developments of E-Commerce, that it is now frequently said that this is the future of any commerce and that it carries the potential for enormous growth - at least for the business to business ("B2B") sector.

The phenomenon of increased interconnectedness of the world''s societies, generally referred to as `globalisation'', is not only changing our everyday life, it also influences the legal framework we are living in. The challenges brought about by this process are especially great in fields of law which are by their very nature international such as Private International Law, the Law of Capital Markets, International Insolvency Law or the Law of the Internet.

Can, for example, established conflict-of-law rules survive in a globalised world? What options exist for regulating capital markets in the era of globalisation? Are national laws on international insolvencies prepared for the increasing number of cross-border insolvency proceedings or does the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency show the way? How can national or international legislators react to the new forms of torts and copyright infringements via the World Wide Web?

These are some of the questions which eminent scholars from Japan and Germany try to answer in this volume. All essays are based on contributions to a symposium which took place in Fukuoka, Japan, on 28-29 March, 1999.

Economic development increasingly depends to a large extent on innovation. Innovation is generally covered by intellectual property (IP) rights and usually requires extensive funding. This book focuses on IP and debt financing as a tool to meet this demand. This book clarifies the situation of the use of IP as collateral in practice through a survey conducted in Japan on IP and debt financing. Various obstacles in the proper use IP and debt financing are identified, and some projects to facilitate its use are illustrated. IP and debt on a global scale, either by attracting foreign lenders or by collateralizing foreign IP rights, needs appropriate private international laws. This book analyzes such regulations in which the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has worked, paying due attention to the law of finance and insolvency law, as well as IP laws. However, further analysis is needed to identify under what conditions such solutions would show optimal effects. This book offers comprehensive analysis from an economic point of view. 

This book explores current developments in transnational commercial and consumer law. It features essays written by leading experts, many of who have taken part in the negotiation and formulation of the international instruments they discuss here. The contributors look at issues arising from the profound changes that globalization is having on the legal norms governing commercial and consumer transactions, both domestic and transnational. They consider how relations between private actors, state regulators, and national courts are being completely reconfigured. This, in turn, generates pressures for legal harmonization and creates opportunities for new national and transnational legal norms and procedures to develop.

The contributions address both the dynamics and the substance of these developments. Topics included are the UNCITRAL Model Law on secured transactions and on cross-border insolvency, the ICC Uniform Customs and Practices of Documentary Credits (UCP 600), and the dispute resolution mechanism and practices of the World Trade Organization.

The content was formerly presented as papers at the 18th Biennial Meeting of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law (the International Academy) at Kyushu University, Japan. Overall, this book provides readers with a solid theoretical foundation and strong familiarity with the practice of law and international commerce, offering realistic and practical conclusions.

The exponential growth of disruptive technology is changing our world. The development of cloud computing, big data, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and other related autonomous systems, such as self-driving vehicles, have triggered the emergence of new products and services. These significant technological breakthroughs have opened the door to new economic models such as the sharing and platform-based economy. As a result, companies are becoming increasingly data- and algorithm-driven, coming to be more like “decentralized platforms”. New transaction or payment methods such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, based on trust-building systems using Blockchain, smart contracts, and other distributed ledger technology, also constitute an essential part of this new economic model. 

The sharing economy and digital platforms also include the everyday exchange of goods allowing individuals to commodify their surplus resources.Information and innovation technologies are used in order to then match these resources with existing demand in the market. Online platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, and Amazon reduce information asymmetry, increase the value of unused resources, and create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Moreover, the sharing economy is playing a major role in the transition from exclusive ownership of personal assets toward access-based exploitation of resources. The success of online matching platforms depends not only on the reduction of search costs but also on the trustworthiness of platform operators. 

From a legal perspective, the uncertainties triggered by the emergence of a new digital reality are particularly urgent. How should these tendencies be reflected in legal systems in each jurisdiction? This book collects a series of contributions by leading scholars in the newly emerging fields of sharing economy and Legal Tech. The aim of the book is to enrich legaldebates on the social, economic, and political meaning of these cutting-edge technologies. The chapters presented in this edition attempt to answer some of these lingering questions from the perspective of diverse legal backgrounds. 

This book successfully represents the indispensable interdisciplinarity of viewpoints by its authors combining legal perspectives with architectural and anthropological approaches. With the observation and analysis presented here, this book is the first to demonstrate research-based governance solutions for cultural heritage within the process of recovering from traumatic events. Its opening statement is that universal international standards are not effective enough for the specific situations of disaster-struck places.

A major objective of this monograph is to allow its readers to go through a learning experience, from plural cases where reconstruction of cultural heritage became central to rebuilding a post-disaster society. This book introduces Japan as the most disaster-prone country, with a long history of confronting and overcoming the power of nature, resulting in its unique solutions for cultural heritage resilience and sustainability. But how do leadership and decision making become efficient in times of recovery? Bearing in mind what may be lacking in Japanese practices, this work also presents comparable governance models from other countries which indicate alternative solutions.

While a traumatic event may occur within one night, the process of recovery could last for decades. Such disasters also tend to recur. In order that directly affected communities can sustain resilience throughout the long recovery period, and that equally severe social trauma will not be repeated, a continuous, well-maintained governance response is required, whether grounded in local knowledge or national policy frameworks. At the heart of this book is the matter of the reconstruction process involving networks of small and large communities. Each of those has a role that becomes operational through linkages of contacts, the interchange of knowledge and skills, and above all through the sharing of common goals.

This book argues that large corporations need to implement governance practices and processes that make them better innovators and that the challenge is to identify organizational principles and practices that provide the best chance of delivering innovative products to create a meaningful consumer experience. In this context, it is important to recognize that when we address organizational forms, we are not thinking of corporate governance in the sense of managing agency costs and ensuring regulatory compliance, but the more pressing business task of putting in place organizational systems and processes that facilitate value creation through continued and sustained innovation. The book examines how the contemporary concept and discourse of corporate governance may be obsolete or, at least, is increasingly disconnected from the needs and realities of the most innovative firms today. The concept of organizing for innovation—identifying process and practices that deliver the best opportunities for innovation—needs to take centre stage. This book aims to contribute to the nascent debate in this area by bringing together a series of chapters that examine various issues related to organizing for innovation.