Creators' Safe Creative Activities: Copyright FAQ
Article posted in 2024-12-03 19:48:17 | VEAT
Along with the growth of one-person media content, creations like cover songs and cover dances are receiving a lot of love from the public.
Cover content, which is produced in various ways, is increasingly gaining attention in the one-person media environment. For example, there are creators who professionally produce cover songs, and there are also ordinary people who follow the choreography of famous idols out of fandom. 'Cover' means reinterpreting and expressing a previously released song or choreography by someone else.
It is well known that companies imitating other companies' products without permission can be a legal problem. So, does cover content, which imitates songs or dances, not violate copyright law?
Law firm Veat’s copyright attorneys and together discussed what creators should know about copyright and precautions.
Recently, cover content has been gaining explosive popularity. What points should be considered regarding copyright?
These days, cover songs and cover dances are commonly seen on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. When creating and uploading cover song or dance videos for one-person media, this typically involves acts of reproducing and publicly transmitting the original copyrighted work. Therefore, if creators produce or upload without the copyright holder's permission, there is a possibility of infringing on the copyright holder's rights, such as the right of reproduction and the right of public transmission.
Copyright holders generally have various copyrightable property rights such as the right of reproduction (‘reproduction right’) according to the Copyright Act, the right of public transmission (‘public transmission right’) to transmit or provide wireless or wired access to the public, the right of performance (‘performance right’), the right to create derivative works (‘right to create derivative works’) by methods such as translation, arrangement, or modification of the original work, and the right to determine whether the work is publicly disclosed (‘right of public disclosure’), the right to indicate the author on the original or copy of the work (‘right of authorship’), and the right not to arbitrarily alter the identity, form, and title of the work (‘right of integrity’).
Therefore, in order to produce and upload such content to a platform, it is basic to obtain prior consent from the copyright holder. Content posted without prior consent may be considered copyright infringement.
So, does all cover content constitute copyright infringement?
Of course, creating these cover videos doesn't always constitute copyright infringement. The Copyright Act Article 1 stipulates that ‘the purpose of the Copyright Act is to contribute to the improvement and development of culture and related industries by promoting the fair use of copyrighted works’, and strict protection of copyrighted works may actually hinder the development of the cultural industry, so the Copyright Act provides various limitations on copyright.
An example of a limitation clause that has been applied is that the Seoul High Court ruled in a case where copyright infringement was an issue due to a 5-year-old child filming and posting a video singing a portion of a domestic singer’s song ‘Crazy’ online, acknowledging that the act of filming and posting the video constitutes reproduction and transmission of the original copyrighted work, but the video does not infringe copyright because it was quoted in conformity with fair practice under Article 28 of the Copyright Act (Seoul High Court, October 13, 2010, 2010na35260).
What can creators do to avoid copyright infringement?
In order to be recognized as not infringing under the copyright limitation clauses, strict requirements must be met. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful when relying on the aforementioned ruling to create cover videos. In particular, the fact that most creators who make cover videos generate revenue through advertising is likely to be an obstacle to the application of the limitation clauses.
The most reliable way to prevent copyright issues is to obtain formal permission from the copyright holder. To this end, you can enter into a license agreement or utilize the license library provided by platforms such as YouTube.
Also, it is recommended to fully understand the copyright limitation clauses in the content creation process and seek the help of a legal professional to prevent unnecessary legal disputes.
If you could offer some advice to creators who want to create cover content?
It might be a good idea to consider whether the content made with good intentions might have been infringing on the rights of the singer or choreographer you like. To maintain a healthy creative ecosystem, creators and creators should always check whether the content complies with the 「Copyright Act.
In the 1인 미디어 era, the importance of copyright is increasing day by day. We recommend that creators review legal risks in advance and receive legal advice to continue safe creative activities by complying with proper procedures.
Law firm Veat’s Technology Intellectual Property(TIP)team, based on its extensive experience and expertise in copyright and intellectual property law, provides optimal legal advice on all legal issues, including If you need professional help to resolve copyright-related legal issues or to further protect your creations, please feel free to contact Law firm Veat's TIP team. Thank you. Law firm Veat