A research on the notion of right "to be forgotten" and its place in the system of civil law

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K17899
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Civil law; New fields of law
• Research Institution: Nagoya University (2019-2022); Okayama University (2017-2018)
• Principal Investigator: MURATA Kensuke 名古屋大学, 法学研究科, 准教授 (00551459)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 個人情報 / 忘れられる権利 / プライバシー / 所有権 / 人格権 / 検索エンジン / SNS / GDPR

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to clarify the significance and scope of the concept of right "to be forgotten" in Japanese law, while comparing French law and EU law. In Japan, the Supreme Court adjudicated on the question of deletion of search results from Google and deletion of tweets from Twitter. Based on both judgements, we compared the resolution on Japanese law with the solution on French law and EU law, and examined a solution of cases where a decision has not yet been made under Japanese law (deletion of self-published information and deletion after death of the data subject) by presenting and analyzing the solution of French law and EU law. By this research, we have presented a possible development of the right "to be forgotten" and privacy right in Japanese law.

Free Research Field

民法・フランス法

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

２つの最高裁判例によって，検索エンジンの検索結果やSNSの書込み等の削除請求の要件については一応明らかになったが，それをプライヴァシー（権）に基づく差止請求一般に広げて理解し得るか，自己公表情報の削除請求や本人の死後の削除請求は認められるのかについては，その権利の位置付けにも関わってなお不明確な点が多い。本研究は，最高裁判例自体の当否を検討しつつも，今日の情報社会において既に問題となっており，そして今後より問題となり得るであろうこれらの点について，外国法を参考に１つの可能性を示した。