퍼블리시티권에 관한 일본의 동향: 最高裁2012. 2. 2. 핑크레이디 사건과 最高裁2004. 2. 13. 경주마 사건을 중심으로

Publicity right can be described as the right of every human being to use one’s identity such as name or likeness in a commercial way in order to gain economic benefits. There are many issues over the requirements and effects of publicity right. Lots of theories and decisions over publicity right have been accumulated in Korea. However, there are neither grounds in statutes nor a decision issued by the Korean Supreme Court, and there is no unified standards in actual practice. In Japan where the judicial system is similar to Korea, the Japanese Supreme Court has recently rendered two judgments over publicity right in the “Racehorse” case and “Pink-Lady” case. The points of the two Japanese Supreme Court judgments are as follows :First, the legal character of publicity right was found to not an independent property right but a type of personal right. Second, as the standard of judgment for infringement against publicity right, the Court adopted ‘attracting customers only standard’for the sake of keeping balance with the other constitutionally protected right of freedom of . Third, despite attracting customers, the Court denied publicity right over property because it is not of human elements. The interpretations of the Supreme Court in Japan over publicity right may be useful references in Korea in terms of the legal character and the object of publicity right and interpreting the standard of judgment for infringement against publicity right.