게임 저작권 분쟁 사례 연구 – 모바일 게임을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The game industry belongs to Korea's world-class competitive field, especially in the highly competitive field, and many imitation games have recently appeared due to the development of mobile game development programs (tool) and the emergence of various profit-generating models. However, in light of the status of the game, it is true that related copyright law theories and precedents have not yet been sufficient, and the recent Supreme Court decision of "Forest Mania" is significant in that it recognizes protection of the selection, arrangement, and organic combination of individual components. Unlike PC online games, elements that can be implemented in the mobile game are restricted and the amount of information that can be expressed in the mobile game is limited, so it is difficult to produce innovative results compared to pre-existing games. So there is a concern that if the range of protected expressions in the particular game becomes too wide, the range of choices of subsequent mobile game developers may become too much narrow. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully determine to what extent the selection, arrangement, and combination of individual components constituting mobile games will be protected so that incentives for creation can be given to the developer while securing sufficient room for development of other creators according to the idea and expression dichotomy. And legal principles such as merger doctrine, theory of inevitable expression and common expression, and misuse of rights need to be actively considered in the process of such judgment.