"Digital Library from the Meiji Era" in the NDL website enables you to see the images of books published in the Meiji and Taisho eras (1868-1926) on your computer screen. Before putting a book into the Digital Library, we investigate the date of the author's death. If the copyright has not expired, we ask the copyright holder to permit us to use the book, and in cases where the copyright holders cannot be identified, we ask for a compulsory license to be issued by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs based on Article 67 of the Copyright Law.
Since the compulsory licenses issued on January 23, 2006 will expire after 5 years of their license period, we will carry out Open Research for Author Information on the NDL website to identify copyright holders from May 14 (Fri.) to June 14 (Mon.). We appreciate your cooperation.