Copyright Lawyer | What counts as infringement, and what you can actually do about it

Copyright | Who actually owns the work

Before infringement can even be discussed, the parties usually have to fight over who holds the right in the first place. This is especially common with commissioned work, employee-created work, and collaborative projects.

Automatic protection, no registration required

Copyright arises the moment a work is created in a fixed, original form and does not depend on registration with the Korea Copyright Commission (저작권법 제10조). Registration is not a requirement for protection, but it creates a presumption of authorship and creation date that becomes very useful evidence in litigation (저작권법 제53조).

Work made for hire and commissioned work

For work created by an employee within the scope of their duties and published under the employer's name, the employer is treated as the author unless there is a separate agreement (저작육법 제9조). Commissioned work outside an employment relationship is different: absent a written assignment of rights, the freelancer or contractor who created the work typically retains ownership even if the client paid for it, which is a frequent source of disputes over software, logos, and marketing content.

Joint works and derivative works

Where two or more people contribute to a single work that cannot be separated into individual parts, it is treated as a joint work and requires the consent of all co-authors to exercise the right (저작권법 제2조 제21호, 제48조). Adaptations, translations, and other derivative works based on someone else's original also require the original author's permission, separate from any rights the person creating the derivative work may hold in their own contribution (저작권법 제5조).

Copyright | Proving infringement and the exceptions that defeat it

Even where copying is obvious, Korean copyright law carves out situations where using someone else's work without permission is lawful. Both sides of a dispute tend to focus their evidence here.

Substantial similarity and access

Infringement generally requires showing that the accused work is substantially similar to the protected work and that the alleged infringer had access to the original, whether directly or through independent creation being implausible. Courts compare the protected expression, not the underlying idea, fact, or method, since copyright does not extend to ideas themselves.

Fair use and statutory exceptions

The Copyright Act allows use of another's work without permission for reporting, criticism, education, research, and similar purposes within certain limits (저작권법 제28조, 제35조의5). Whether a specific use qualifies depends on the purpose and character of the use, the proportion copied, and the effect on the market for the original work, and this is frequently the central battleground in litigation over quotes, parody, and online content.

Moral rights versus economic rights

Authors hold both economic rights, which can be licensed or transferred, and moral rights such as the right of attribution and the right to maintain the integrity of the work, which cannot be transferred even after the economic rights are sold (저작권법 제11조 through 제13조). A buyer of the economic rights can still be found liable for moral rights infringement if they alter the work or fail to credit the author properly.

Copyright | What a rights holder can actually recover

Filing a complaint is only the first step. What matters in practice is which remedy fits the situation and how damages will realistically be calculated.

Injunction to stop ongoing use

A rights holder can seek an injunction ordering the infringer to stop the infringing act and, where appropriate, to destroy infringing copies or the equipment used to make them (저작권법 제123조). This is often pursued as a provisional injunction before the main case is decided, since a final judgment can take a long time and the harm from continued use accrues in the meantime.

Damages: actual loss, infringer's profit, or statutory damages

A rights holder may claim damages based on their own actual loss, the profit the infringer made from the infringement, or, for registered works, statutory damages up to a set amount without having to prove the exact loss (저작권법 제125조, 제125조의2). Statutory damages are often chosen precisely because calculating lost licensing revenue or the infringer's actual profit can be difficult to prove with hard evidence.

Criminal complaint runs in parallel

Copyright infringement can also be prosecuted as a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment or a fine, and most infringement offenses require a complaint from the rights holder to proceed (저작권법 제136조, 제140조). In practice, a criminal complaint is often filed alongside the civil claim because the pressure of a criminal investigation can bring an infringer to the negotiating table faster than a civil suit alone.

Copyright | If you have been accused of infringing

Being served with a warning letter or a criminal complaint over content you posted, used, or sold does not automatically mean you are liable. The strength of the claim against you depends on facts the accuser has to prove.

Check whether the claimant actually owns the right

A surprising number of infringement claims come from parties who do not clearly hold the right they are asserting, whether because the work was commissioned without a written assignment, the license had already expired, or the claimant is not the original author. Requesting proof of ownership before responding substantively is a reasonable first step.

Assess whether your use falls under an exception

If your use was for quotation, criticism, parody, or another purpose recognized under the fair use provisions, that can be a full defense even if you did not obtain permission (저작권법 제35조의5). The amount used, whether it was transformative, and the effect on the market for the original all matter here.

Intent and negligence in the criminal track

Criminal liability for copyright infringement generally requires intent, so an honest and reasonable mistake about ownership or licensing status can be relevant to a criminal defense even where civil liability might still attach on a strict basis. Responding promptly to a warning letter and, where appropriate, ceasing the disputed use can also affect how the matter is resolved, including the possibility of settlement before a complaint escalates.

Copyright | From initial consultation to resolution

Copyright | How fees are structured

※ Costs vary depending on case complexity and specific circumstances; exact fees will be provided during consultation. No specific outcome is guaranteed.

Copyright | Self-Check Before Your Consultation

Frequently Asked Questions

Official References

• Korea Law Information Center — https://www.law.go.kr
• Easy-to-Find Everyday Legal Information — https://easylaw.go.kr
• Korea Legal Aid Corporation — https://www.klac.or.kr