A government copyright panel Wednesday proposed charging royalties on rental manga comics and other books and magazines.

The panel, which reports to the education ministry's Council for Cultural Affairs, also proposed tougher penalties for copyright infringements made with harmful intent.

The ministry plans to introduce a bill to revise the Copyright Law in line with the panel's report in the Diet session that starts Monday.

The proposal followed complaints by cartoonists and authors who said large rental bookshops reap huge profits on their works at their own expenses.

A revision of the Copyright Law in 1984 required rental businesses to pay royalties to copyright holders for vinyl records and compact discs.

But it temporarily exempted books and magazines.

In its report, the panel suggested abolishing the exemption because ``circumstances have changed and the economic impact (of rentals) on copyright owners is now greater.''

Book rental businesses began proliferating about two years ago.

The report also proposed tougher penalties for copyright violations from the current maximum of three years imprisonment or 3 million yen in fines (100 million yen for businesses).

The panel said penalties should be raised to levels imposed under the Patent Law and the Trademark Law-up to five years in prison or a maximum 5 million yen in fines (150 million yen for businesses).

As a stronger deterrent, the proposal also allows prison terms and fines to be imposed for a single infringement.

The panel's report also acknowledged a recent trend where CDs produced abroad by Japanese companies are being imported into Japan and sold for less than the locally produced products.

The report said many panel members see a need for steps to prevent such copyright infringements.(IHT/Asahi: January 15,2004) (01/15)