온라인 디지털 콘텐츠 산업발전법 제정의 의의 및 그 효과에 관한 소고 = A Study on the Enactment of the Online Digital Contents Industry Promotion Act of 2001

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The digital contents which has creativeness has been protected by the Copyright Act in Korea. However, the contents which was not creative could not have been protected so far on the ground that it lacks creativeness, one of the prerequisite for copyright protection, even though the industry invested much time and effort in digitalizing the contents. Until recently, they had no remedies against illegal reproduction of their contents through the network.
Considered these situations, the Ministry of Information and Communication initiated to enact a law to protect digital contents providers and to promote digital contents industries. The newly enacted law, which is to enter into force on the 15th of July 2002, protects digital contents providers on the basis of unfair competition rules rather than giving them rights of IPR holders. The protection is for five years from the date of marking after its production.
By the "birth defect," the act already contains several problems from the beginning. The Act is regulating promotion of digital contents industries and protection of contents producers in the same law, which is quite a rare case. Since there is no clear definition of "considerable" effort and "serious" violation in the Act itself that we have to wait and see how the courts interpret these words in actual cases. Furthermore, this Act cannot cover off-line distribution of illegal reproduction because the title of the Act itself limits the coverage of the law. It may also cause some problems in international perspectives: the Act provides various ways of supporting digital contents industries which may not be in conformity with the present international trade law on subsidies.
It remains to be seen how this Act will actually operate in the near future. Through the enactment of Implementing Decree and Rules and by the establishment of Basic Plans, I wish this Act will become more clearer and that it will help promotion of Korean digital contents industries.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. 서-디지털콘텐츠 보호의 필요성
• (1) 디지털콘텐츠의 의의
• (2) 디지털콘텐츠의 특징과 중요성
• (3) 디지털콘텐츠 법적 보호의 필요성
• 2. 데이터베이스 보호에 관한 입법례
• (1) WIPO
• (2) 데이터베이스의 법적 보호에 과한 EU 지침
• (3) 미국의 입법안
• (4) 우리나라의 입법안
• 3. 온라인디지털콘텐츠산업발전법의 주요내용
• (1) 보호방식
• (2) 적용범위-저작권법 등과의 관계
• (3) 주요내용
• 4. 온라인디지털콘텐츠산업발전의 문제점과 개선방안
• (1) 보호의 필요성 및 보호방식의 적정성
• (2) 입법체계
• (3) 다른 법률과의 관계
• (4) 보호기간과 표시
• (5) '상당한'과 '현저하게'의 불명확성
• (7) 각종 지원제도의 국제통상법과의 상층 여부
• 5. 결어