IP & Art

In the eye of the IP laws, it is important to take a look at the points to keep in mind when making a movie. First, it is necessary to examine whether each participating copyright holder has a legitimate copyrighted work. Otherwise, there is a high probability that a legal dispute will arise during the film work and a large loss will occur. In addition, care must be taken not to unintentionally infringe the copyrights of others during the filming process. For example, in the process of filming a hotel lobby, if an artwork hung in the lobby is exposed to the video for a considerable amount of time, this is because a copyright infringement problem occurs. The same is true for works of photographs, newspapers, books, and other works. If it is a very minor exposure, it may not be a big problem, but special attention is required because there is no other special standard for how trivial it is, and this is also uncertain. If you can recognize what kind of work it is in the video and it is exposed to a certain extent, there is a high probability that it will pose a problem of copyright law violation. Therefore, appropriate countermeasures are required. Also, in this case, the amount of damages determined by the court is considerably higher than expected. Therefore, this is by no means an issue to be taken lightly. So, in reality, it is common to use special books or newspapers specially prepared for the movie, not general books, for newspapers or books that we encounter in movies or dramas. This is because there is no other alternative in order to prevent unnecessary disputes over copyright laws, etc. and not to bear a huge liability for damages. Therefore, as a small and medium-sized film producer, it is necessary to approach the possibility of a copyright dispute more conservatively and be mindful of the possibility of a copyright dispute in the future as a producer who does not have experience in actually bearing such liability. In addition, it is necessary to take measures against the portrait rights of ordinary people who are accidentally exposed to the image without intention otherwise. For those who may be exposed at the time of filming, it is necessary to obtain prior written consent from them in advance. Otherwise, appropriate technical measures are required so that it is not easy to identify who the person in the video is.

In addition, if a third party illegally distributes the finished video production, it raises the issue of violation of the Copyright Act, and furthermore a system should be systematically established to obtain appropriate compensation. In particular, it should be possible to take effective and appropriate measures when necessary by regularly properly monitoring the situation of copyright infringement not only in Korea but also in foreign countries. 

Furthermore, ultimately, it is necessary to properly establish an overseas network system that can receive effective compensation for this. In addition, it is necessary to understand the local law, in which cases legal problems can be raised, and what points to take note of, and to prepare a close collaboration system with local lawyers who are specialists on local copyright laws. . This is because, above all else, it is most important for the film production company to establish a sufficient database in relation to this and to build a system that effectively responds to the occurrence of any incident. In the case of small and medium-sized film production companies, one way is to form a cooperative, etc. and respond jointly.

Of course, as in the case of a large film production company, it would be most desirable to have an in-house professional lawyer in charge of matters such as copyright law. However, if there are difficulties in the circumstances, at least, whenever related intellectual property rights issues such as copyright law arise, it is necessary to seek a way to use an external professional advisory lawyer who can provide appropriate advice. However, as there may be a burden such as cost, small film producers may jointly form a kind of  cooperatives, etc.  to utilize domestic and foreign legal experts. In addition, it is necessary to systematically organize domestic and foreign dispute cases and information produced accordingly to build bigger data which will result in the copyright law manuals related to video works.