On March 29, 1971, the Nagoya High Court ruled on the end of a continuing business relationship. The notice of termination, it said, lacked a serious reason that made further dealings impossible to expect, and it gave no reasonable period of notice. The court called it an unjust termination.
On July 30, 2010, the Tokyo District Court ruled that a company had breached a sales agency agreement. It had ended the agreement with four months’ notice and without compensating the agent for its losses.
Courts do not always go this far. On March 2, 2021, the Tokyo District Court upheld a franchisor’s refusal to renew a contract at its expiry, while noting that good faith limits such a refusal. The case was appealed.