CONTENTS
- 1. Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Request
- 2. Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Alleged Facts
- - Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Argument
- 3. Haeundae Attorney | The Copyright Act
- 4. Haeundae Attorney | Assistance
- - Haeundae Attorney | The Photograph in This Case Does Not Constitute a Work Protected Under the Copyright Act
- 5. Haeundae Attorney | The Disposition
1. Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Request
The Haeundae attorney's client came to Haeundae Daeryun Law Firm on charges of violation of the Copyright Act, pleading his innocence and requesting assistance.
2. Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Alleged Facts
The Haeundae attorney's client stated that he had been the subject of a criminal complaint on charges of violation of the Copyright Act, and the alleged facts of the client's case were as follows.
The complainant who filed against the Haeundae attorney's client was the representative of the company from which the client had resigned.
The complainant filed the complaint to the effect that, after resigning, the client had used the complainant's company images without authorization and sold the same products in a similar manner, thereby infringing copyright.
Haeundae Attorney | The Client's Argument
The Haeundae attorney argued the following, stating that the alleged facts were a great injustice.
The client had been selling the same goods after resigning.
The image that the complainant claimed had infringed his copyright was simply a photograph of the goods being sold and does not constitute a copyrighted work.
And the client used that image only for a few weeks, until he photographed a new image, and he does not use that image at all at present.
3. Haeundae Attorney | The Copyright Act
Copyright Act Article 136 (Penal Provisions) ① A person who falls under any of the following subparagraphs shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine not exceeding 50 million won, or both may be imposed concurrently.
1. A person who infringes an author's economic right or any other property right protected under this Act (excluding the rights under Article 93) by means of reproduction, public performance, public transmission, exhibition, distribution, rental, or production of a derivative work
According to the argument of the complainant who filed against the Haeundae attorney, the client had infringed 🔗copyright, and therefore he could be punished under the Copyright Act by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine not exceeding 50 million won. The Haeundae attorney had to clear the client's name.
4. Haeundae Attorney | Assistance
The Haeundae attorney undertook the following assistance in order to clear the client's name and rescue him from the risk of punishment.
Haeundae Attorney | The Photograph in This Case Does Not Constitute a Work Protected Under the Copyright Act
The photograph at issue in the Haeundae attorney's client's case does not constitute a work protected under the Copyright Act.
A work protected under the Copyright Act must be a creative work falling within the scope of literature, scholarship, or art.
Accordingly, creativity is required, and the photograph used in this case is a kind of product photograph, for which it is difficult to recognize creative effort and individuality worthy of protection under the Copyright Act.
Although it cannot be said that no creativity on the part of the complainant went into it at all, it does not possess a degree of creativity worthy of protection under the Copyright Act.
As a matter of common sense as well, it cannot happen that the Haeundae attorney's client would be punished for violation of the Copyright Act for briefly using a simple product photograph, like the image in this case, rather than an artistic or fine-art photograph or a specially distinctive image.
In addition, the client used that image only briefly and then took a new photograph and changed the image.
5. Haeundae Attorney | The Disposition
The Haeundae attorney provided assistance at the client's police investigation stage, and the police, accepting the Haeundae attorney's submissions, issued a decision of no-referral on the ground of no suspicion of crime.
Whereas an ordinary decision of no-referral is issued for insufficient evidence, in the client's case the suspicion itself was not recognized.
The Haeundae attorney was able to protect the client from the victim in the Haeundae attorney's client's case, who had filed the complaint with malice.
Copyright is an author's right in a work, and because infringing copyright infringes that author's right, it is punished severely.
Because the standard for what constitutes a work is very difficult to determine, one may be placed at risk of unjust punishment, as in the Haeundae attorney's client's case.
If you wish to clear yourself of charges of violation of the Copyright Act, please come to Haeundae Daeryun Law Firm and entrust your case to us.
This content is based on actual case studies of Daeryun Law LLC with some adaptations, and the copyright belongs to our firm.
Unauthorized reproduction, duplication, or distribution and other copyright infringements may result in legal action under applicable laws.
