Protection of Copyrights | Easy to Find, Practical Law

Any person may freely use creative works with donated copyrights.

Donation of the Author’s Property Rights

- The copyright holder may donate his/her copyright to the Korea Copyright Commission (Article 135, paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act).

- Any person intending to donate the author’s property rights shall attach the reproduction of the creative work on the Pledge of Donation and documents that verify himself/herself as the copyright holder for submission to the Korea Copyright Commission (Article 75, paragraph 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Copyright Act and Article 28 and Appendix Form No. 59 of the Enforcement Rules of the Copyright Act).

Any person may freely use creative works with expired copyright protection periods.

Expiration of the Copyright Protection Period

- Any person may freely use creative works with expired protection periods that fall under the following categories, even without obtaining the author’s permission (Articles 39 to 41 of the Copyright Act).

Types of Creative Works	Starting Point of Counting the Expiration Term	Protection Period
Single creative works	The year after the author’s death date	70 years
Work of joint authorship	The year after the last author’s death date
Creative works of an author with no name or a pseudonym (Unknown author)	The year after the creative work’s publication date
Works made for hire	The year after the creative work’s publication date

Creative works may be used for media reports, criticism, or educational purposes if used fairly.

Fair Use of Creative Works

- Unless the author’s property rights are restricted under the Copyright Act, the creative work may be used without the copyright holder’s permission if it is used in a way that does not conflict with how the work is generally used and does not unjustly harm the author’s justifiable interests (Article 35-5, paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act).

- The following matters are considered to determine whether the creative work has been used fairly (Article 35-5, paragraph 2 of the Copyright Act).

· Purpose and type of use

· The creative work’s type and purpose

· The percentage and significance of the used part among the entire creative work

· How using the creative work affects the current/potential market or market value

The creative works maybe used in compliance with the Creative Commons (CC)License.

Backgroundsand objectives of Creative Commons (CC) License

-The Creative Commons License (hereinafter referred to as the “CC License”) is ameans designed to allow copyright holders to protect their rights and sharetheir works [see creative commons license website (http://ccl/cckorea.org) –About CC License]

- TheCC license is designed to enable the copyright holder to allow others to freelyuse his/her work in advance. When using his/her work, he/she selects andindicates which license terms must be complied with. A person who wishes to usea work to which the CC license has been applied is allowed to freely use thework under the license terms displayed by the copyright holder without any needto obtain separate permission from the copyright holder [see the creativecommons license website (http://ccl.cckorea.org) – About CC License].

Public works may be used without permission.

Using Public Works

- Suppose the nation or local government produces creative works for business or possesses all the author’s property rights for the creative work. In this case, persons may use the creative work without permission (main text of Article 24-2, paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act).

- However, if the creative work falls under any of the following cases, it shall not be used without permission (Conditions of Article 24-2, paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act).

· If it includes information related to national safety and security

· If it includes contents related to one’s privacy or business secret

· If it includes information restricting publication under other laws and regulations

· If the creative work is registered to the Korea Copyright Commission and is managed as national property under the State Property Act or public property under the Public Property and Commodity Management Act

Type and Use Conditions of Public Works

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Korea Open Government License

Permission of Free Use of Public Works

• Indicate the Source

• Available for commercial and non-commercial use

• Modification available, such as creations of derivative work

Korea Open Government License

Permission of Free Use of Public Works

• Indicate the Source

• Available for non-commercial use only

• Modification available, such as creations of derivative work

Korea Open Government License

Permission of Free Use of Public Works

• Indicate the Source

• Available for commercial and non-commercial use

• Modification prohibited, such as creations of derivative work

Korea Open Government License

Permission of Free Use of Public Works

• Indicate the Source

• Available for non-commercial use only

• Modification prohibited, such as creations of derivative work

- Suppose public works are deemed necessary for nationals to freely use, are registered with the Korea Copyright Commission, are are managed as national property under the State Property Act or public property under the Public Property and Commodity Management Act. In this case, regardless of Article 65-8 of the State Property Act and Articles 20 and 29 of the Public Property and Commodity Management Act, anyone may freely use the public work without signing an agreement for use, permission for profits or loans (Article 24-2, paragraph 3 of the Copyright Act and former part of Article 1-3, paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Copyright Act).

Using Public Works

- Creative works marked by Korea Open Government License may be used complimentary and for an unlimited term. Moreover, only if conditions of use are complied, the user may freely use all reproductions, distributions, public transmissions, performances, rent with the author’s property rights (Article 26, paragraph 1 of the Act on Promotion of the Provision and Use of Public Data and the Korea Open Government License Website).

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