디지털환경과 관련된 최근 판례의 분석-2005년 상반기 지적재산권법 관련 판례회고-

Abstract

Under digital environments, many issues relating to copyright arise. Recently, there have been cases on controversial copyright issues in the US and Korea. This paper deals with those three cases, and analyzes the impact those case would have. First, while Korean criminal appellate division held that Soribada, the operator of a server enabling P2P file sharing, is not criminally responsible for copyright infringement, civil appellate divisions held it is liable. Second, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the FCC Rules which mandates the installation of DRM is invalid. Third, the Supreme Court held that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties. After reviewing those three cases in detail, this paper concludes there still remains some issues not solved by those cases.