저작권집중관리 제도의 개선방안에 대한 소고: 저작권관리사업법안을 중심으로

Abstract

Copyright is a private right that provides a copyright holder creating a copyrighted work an exclusive right by law and thus in principle a holder of right individually exercises his right. However, it is quite inconvenient for a large number of right holders and users to locate each other and enter into negotiations and actually difficult for a right holder to manage his works, considering that there are various users, regional uses, and ways to use. Accordingly use of copyrighted works through collecting societies is necessary in order to effectively facilitate and manage them. The operation of collective management is slightly different from country to country, some regulated under copyright law and others regulated under special laws such as Japan and Germany. Korea has a legal system under which copyright trust services are regulated as a permission system and on the other hand copyright agency or brokerage services as a report system. Recently a considerable change as regards the use and circulation of copyrighted works has happened as digital network environment has been established. Under this change, a demand for copyright management of copyright holder has got diverse and the establishment of a new copyright management system utilizing outcomes of technological innovation has been developed. The objective of copyright collective management, the protection of copyright holders and assurance of convenience of users, remains unchanged, but it is also necessary that legal foundation appropriately cope with circumstantial changes. In addition, the operation scheme of copyright collective societies to permit societies in plural number such as the U.S. and Japan and leave their application to market principles should be taken into account, considering copyright holders’ longing for an amelioration of copyright collective management such as an abuse of prominent positions brought about by the application of a small number of copyright trust services. Relevantly, the enactment of the 『Copyright Management Business Law』 has been under discussion. This bill includes the improvement of copyright collective management, the embodimentof tasks and obligations of copyright reward management societies, the introduction of Extended Collective License, the arrangement of discussion and settlement system for copyright royalty, the introduction of copyright manager system and the establishment and operation of integrated network. However, collecting the opinions of interested parties is requisite ahead of the enactment of the new law. The government support is necessaryto have the system to resolve the handling and payment of royalties en bloc and apply it in substance for revitalization of use through collective societies and the minimum of government intervention needs to be kept up.