메타버스 산업 활성화를 위한 저작권법 개정방향

A study on copyright law to revitalize the metaverse industry

최근 메타버스에 대한 관심이 높아지면서 메타버스는 산업과 교육에 있어서 새로운 대안으로 떠오르고 있다. 이에 저작권자들은 새로운 시장이 구축되어 경제적 보상이 증가될 것을 기대하고 있다. 그러나 저작권자들과 새로운 메타버스 플랫폼들과의 법적 해석에 있어 긴장관계도 매우 높은데, 2021년 6월 로블록스는 미국 음악저작권협회로부터 약 2억 달러(한화 약 2230억 원)의 규모의 저작권 관련 손해배상청구 소송을 당하기도 하였다. 이어 2022년 1월에는 한국에서 한국음악콘텐츠협회가 로블록스에게 같은 취지로 K-팝 저작권 침해 문제를 제기했다. 본 논문에서는 메타버스 산업이 3차원 초현실세상으로서 당해 세상에서도 사회, 문화적 활동을 하며 경제적 가치를 창출하고 소유 및 투자, 보상을 받을 것으로 기대를 받고 있는 기술로서 최근 국내 대기업의 제페토와 이프랜드, 미국의 로블록스와 같은 급격이 커져가는 메타버스 플랫폼 내에서 현행 저작권법의 해석을 살펴보고 메타버스 산업 활성화를 위하여 저작권법의 개정할 부분은 무엇인지 살펴보고자 한다.

Early metaverses were mostly game services. The first virtual space to implement the metaverse concept will be an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). In the beginning, it was a limited environment, such as simply connecting with the presented character and catching monsters, but now, various activities connected with other game users such as creating an avatar and building an economy by trading with various people have formed a culture. . Metaverse, a form of life communication service such as Facebook, Instagram, and Second Life, is also growing along with the development of IT technology. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the influence of the metaverse has expanded further. This is because, after two years of cessation of activities in the real world, telecommuting became inevitable, and most of the activities where people gather, such as students leaving the classroom and continuing their studies through remote classes, were conducted online. As such, to revitalize the metaverse industry, it is essential to discuss the copyright law to mitigate legal risks in the content production stage. First of all, it is necessary to solve the problem of the copyright license agreement for the creation of realistic content. It is necessary to review the introduction of an opt-out system for activating the use of copyrighted works, the introduction of a comprehensive license, and the introduction of a post-compensation system such as an implied license such as a creative commons license. It is necessary to come up with a plan to utilize micro-contents that anyone can use regardless of copyright, and if spatial information is digitized, content producers will be able to easily use actual spaces and structures. A contract or license needs to be available. Copyright in the real space is also applied in the virtual space. The problem is that when the captured information is recorded, shared or sold, intellectual property disputes between the information provider and the copyright owner of the object overlaid with the information are expected, so a response is urgently needed. The issue of licensing is not a matter that requires a legislative approach such as amendment of laws to the end, but the government also needs support to be able to solve the copyright problem in the production of realistic content through a comprehensive copyright agreement between the Metaverse platform and the copyright centralized management organization. In particular, when implementing VR/AR, it will be necessary to separately prepare standard terms of use and standard contracts. As the metaverse expands our daily lives into virtual space and the economic scale and expectations related to the metaverse grow, the protection of rights in the metaverse is also emerging as an important issue. In order to revitalize the Metaverse industry, ambiguous interpretations or overlapping parts of the Copyright Act are required to be improved through revision, and it is time to reexamine the Copyright Act so that the effectiveness of the Metaverse can be properly recognized.