IP & Art

How about IP laws, including Copyright Laws of the North Korea?

It is true that North Korea also has intellectual property laws, such as the Invention Act, Trademark Act, Industrial Design Act, and Copyright Act, and is a part of international treaties such as the Berne Treaty. 

The national institutions in charge of this include the General Bureau of Invention, which corresponds to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Trademark and Industrial Design Office, the Invention Deliberation Center, and the Cabinet Academy of Sciences. In the case of copyright, there is the Copyright Act enacted in 2001, but its contents are rather simple. 

The main contents are composed of items such as basic, subject, copyright holder, use of works, neighboring rights holder and guidance and control of copyright business.

However, in North Korea, it has been known that, in addition to originality, there is an additional requirements and that is based on whether or not such work will contribute to the maintenance of social order in North Korea as a condition for becoming a copyrighted work. 

In order to be protected as a copyrighted work, it seems that it is additionally judged whether it is positive for the maintenance of the North Korean regime. In addition, North Korean works are mainly created by groups rather than by individuals, so the copyright is often vested in the government or government-owned organizations.

Can North Korean works be protected in the Republic of Korea? In this regard, the Supreme Court ruled that North Korea also belongs to the territory of the Republic of Korea under the Constitution, so that works made in North Korea can also be protected under the domestic copyright law. And since North Korea also joined the Berne Treaty, it can be protected in principle by this treaty.