게임에 대한 저작권법적 규제와 보호

Regulation on and Protection of Games under the Copyright Act

&nbsp;&nbsp;As the 21st century is called &quot;an era of entertainment,&quot; entertainment stuff, sports, and recreation have become an integral part of daily life. Accordingly, the game industry has become a core feature of the culture and contents industry.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;While the game industry experiences rapid growth, various legal problems arise, and in particular, the game industry must confront the issue of &quot;alleged plagiarism of the game.&quot; This problem not only discourages the development will of game industry developers but also presents a great obstacle to the growth of the game industry. Thus, countermeasures must be prepared urgently.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;With regards to the copyright of the games, it becomes problematic when deciding whether one should recognize the game as being the work and the infringement of the copyright on each stage, from the creation of the game to its distribution and performance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;If the game is recognized as the work, there are different theories. However, since the image and sound of the game comprise audio-visual works, they can be labelled as cinematographic work. In addi tion, the graphic screen of the game can be protected as artistic work, and the sound properties of the game can be protected as musical work, respectively. only the game&quot;s works listed above but also their components, such as source code and object code, can be protected as computer program works. Although there is an argument made regarding the work of characters appearing in the game, it can be said that there would be no actual interest even though they are recognized as the work.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;With game work copyright, problems can occur in connection wi th the game&quot;s distribution rights or transmission rights, among other things. Unlike Japanese law, the distribution right of all the works is recognized under Korean law. However, if the distribution right of a copyright holder is recognized continuously after legally selling a copyright legally to another person, it would be inconvenient to obtain the permission from the copyright holder for every future transaction using the work. An interpretation of the First Sale Doctrine can be used in order to overcome this problem. By applying the First Sale Doctrine, once the original work or its reproduced work is transferred from the copyright holder to another person, the person who legally acquired the work is then allowed to distribute the relevant work at his or her discretion.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Nowadays, as the game industry advances, the arguments about &quot;plagiarism&quot; of game has been continuously raised. However, the criteria to judge the infringement of the game work copyright is not clear yet, as there still are not many relevant precedents which solidify game copyright issues. Thus, if any relevant dispute is submitted to the court, it is difficult to predict its outcome. In the meanwhile, generally the computer program which runs the game and the screen of the game on which the game is played is considered a separate work. Therefore, in the case of determining the relevant infringement, ajudgment should be made separately for each case.