국내 스포츠 소재 영화의 발전과 퍼블리시티권 문제에 대한 고찰

Abstract

In present-day society, film is defined not as a reflection of society but as a representation of society. It seems to be a cultural subject that is able to lead and create the reality. The filmmakers intend not to show their work to delight spectator’s eyes but to empathize with people and communicate with society by showing their ideas through their movies. Different from other genres, sports films have special characteristics such as challenge to human abilities, anticipation of victory, touching real stories, unforeseeable tension and humanism. The sports films are likely to infringe publicity rights because they are produced for commercial purposes by creating the character, describing fashion, and behavior of the main character with the help of filmic tone and manner as well as fictional elements. Such infringement of rights can cause problems such as compensation for damages. Currently, there is no law or Supreme Court case that recognizes publicity right as a legal right in Korea. This being so, problems might arise regarding which laws apply the publicity right. While developed countries have recognized an intellectual property right and protect the right legally, it has not yet approve it as a legal right. That is the right of publicity. In Korea this issue continues to be discussed. This study examined the possibility of infringement of the publicity right due to the development of the sports films in Korea based on the relevant data and legal evidences. Furthermore, it verified that there were some case on the infringement of the publicity right due to commercial use. Accordingly, I would like to suggest how sports movies should be developed for the pursuit of true values and the way how to deal with the issues to legislate the publicity right. First, filmmakers should place priority on communicating with the public over making more profit. Second, sports movies should be produced to increase the interest in sports by delivering messages to the public. Third, it is the right of publicity that prevents the use of another's name, image, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of his or her persona for commercial gain without permission. The concept of the right of publicity must be legally specified so that it can be established in Korea. Forth, a standard of legal basis for infringing publicity rights in sports films should be established.