[Consulting] Providing crawling-related consulting to game company A. Law firm Veat.
Article posted in 2020-03-18 12:22:34 | VEAT
Law firm Veat provided legal advice to A, a company engaged in game development and supply, regarding crawling.
Crawling is a term referring to the act of bringing a webpage as is and extracting data from it. A inquired whether the act of mechanically copying information from a specific website using an automated method and storing it on a separate server would violate any laws.
Veat reviewed the potential legal issues associated with crawling under current law.
▲ In a recent court decision, crawling programs were used to access servers without access privileges, and the case was judged as a violation of the 「Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection」 (Information and Communications Network Act) as an illegal access to communication network.
(Seoul Central District Court, February 2020. 11, 2019 Defendant 1777)
▲ It could violate the 「Copyright Act」 if the entire or substantial portion of a database is reproduced, distributed, broadcast, or transmitted.
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▲ If the HTML source of a third-party website is copied using a crawling method and posted on the company's website, it may be a prohibited act of unfair competition under the 「Act on Prevention of Unfair Competition and Protection of Business Secrets」 (Unfair Competition Prevention Act).
(Seoul Central District Court, February 2016. 17, 2015 Defendant 517982)
▲ It also provided guidance on the possibility of violating the 「Criminal Law」’s crime of disrupting business by causing malfunction of computer systems and the 「Personal Information Protection Act」.
As we enter the era of big data, the importance of technology to collect and search information that is stored in numerous places is increasing. Crawling is not only an area where various laws apply, but also an area where the applicability of regulations can vary depending on the specific facts, making it difficult to determine easily. Therefore, professional legal guidance is essential.
Law firm Veat is an IT-specialized law firm composed of IT specialized lawyers selected by the bar association and lawyers with engineering backgrounds. Based on extensive experience in software-related lawsuits, it provides professional legal services for IT-related disputes. Those who need legal advice on crawling, the Information and Communications Network Act, the Copyright Act, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, the crime of disrupting business by causing malfunction of computer systems, etc. are welcome to contact Law firm Veat.
Thank you.
Law firm Veat