South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

is regulated by the Copyright Act of 1957. It has been amended several times, with a recent 2009 revision introducing a three strikes policy for online copyright infringement.

History

The concept of copyright first appeared in Korean writings in 1884. The history of the Korean copyright law dates to 1908, when during the occupation of Korea, the

Japanese copyright law consist of two parts: "Author's Rights" and "Neighbouring Rights". As such, "copyright" is a convenient collective term rather than a single concept in Japan. Japan was a party to the original Berne convention in 1899, so its copyright law is in sy ...

was extended to cover the Korean territories in the form of the international treaty between the United States and Japan on the Protection of Industrial Property in Korea. The Japanese law on copyright was used in Korea until 1957. The major Korean copyright legislation up to date, the Copyright Act of 1957, was enacted on January 28 of that year. This act protected the works for 30 years after the death of the author, and included

fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

provisions. Later revisions also addressed issues such as

moral rights Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work ...

. The Act has had 14 amendments, including two consolidations (in 1986 and 2006). The 1986 law extended the length of copyright to 50 years after the author's death, and introduced other modifications, bringing Korean copyright law in line with the

Universal Copyright Convention The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC), adopted in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1952, is one of the two principal international conventions protecting copyright; the other is the Berne Convention. The UCC was developed by the United Nations Educati ...

. However, the transitional provisions laid out in the addendum of the 1986 law noted that the new law (and thus its longer term) did not apply to works whose copyright term under the earlier law had already expired. As of 1999, acts of criminal copyright infringement were punishable with a prison term of up to three years and a fine of up to three million won. The 2009 revision gives the government (represented by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Copyright Commission) the power to delete illegal reproductions, notify the copyright infringers, and suspend their online access, and is an implementation of the three strikes policy. Article 133bis of the Korean Copyright Act allows the Korean Copyright Commission to request that the

ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

s suspend the accounts of repeat file-sharing offenders, as determined by the Commission, for six months, and to upgrade this request to a demand if the Ministry becomes involved; the ISP has to follow the Ministry-backed demand or face a fine. However, user email accounts are not to be suspended. In 2011, the copyright law was controversially changed as a precondition to the

United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement The United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement (officially: Free Trade Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea), also known as KORUS FTA, is a trade agreement between the United States and South Korea. Negotiatio ...

. The changes introduced the concept of

, in order to place a limit on exceptions to copyright. In general, copyright legislation in Korea has grown increasingly restrictive. In the 1950s, the public opinion in Korea did not consider acts such as copying a book to be equivalent to stealing. The 1957 act was very rarely implemented, and it was only after the revisions of 1986 that this changed. Since then, the Korean law has been amended numerous times to protect the interests of various industries creating copyrighted works and bring Korean copyright law more in line with the international standards, such as those of the

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...

. The number of copyright cases and rulings has grown significantly since 1986. Kyu Ho Youm noted that since the 1980s, copyright law has been transformed "from a largely ignored legal notion to a hotly debated concept in and out of court". While the Korean copyright law has some unique characteristics, it has heavily drawn from foreign examples—particularly those of the United States. Freedom of panorama in Korea is limited with regard to works of art in public places which cannot be distributed for commercial purposes.

Criticism

The 2009 law has generated a number of criticisms, including from organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The critics argue that the current copyright law gives too much power to the copyright holders, which can hurt Korean competitiveness and culture, and ''de facto'' limits the

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

and thus boosts

Internet censorship in South Korea Internet censorship in South Korea is prevalent, and contains some unique elements such as the blocking of pro-North Korea websites, and to a lesser extent, Japanese websites, which led to it being categorized as "pervasive" in the conflict/securi ...

. Hundreds of Korean Internet users have been disconnected from the Internet after not three, but one strike; "half of those suspended were involved in infringement of material that would cost less than 90 U.S. cents". In March 2013 Korea's National Human Rights Commission recommended a reexamination of the 2009 law, noting that its benefits are poorly documented, while it poses serious concerns to the issues related to cultural expression and human rights.

References

External links

Republic of Korea legal acts related to copyright at WIPO

Korea Copyright Commission
{{Copyright law by country

History

Criticism

See also

References

External links