구 저작권법상 음반의 저작자 결정 기준 - 대법원 2016. 4. 28. 선고 2013다56167 판결 -

The Supreme Court of Korea recently ruled that the criteria of determining the phonogram producers under the current Korean Copyright Act should be applied to determine the author of phonogram under the Korean Copyright Act of 1957 (hereinafter referred to as ‘1957 Act’). Under the 1957 Act phonogram was to be protected as one of the copyrighted works along with music, singing or performance. But Korean Copyright Act was comprehensively revised in 1987 and the neighboring right system was introduced for the public performance, phonogram and broadcasting. Therefore, phonogram was to be protected as one of the neighboring rights along with public performance and broadcasting under the Korean Copyright Act of 1987 (hereinafter referred to as ‘1987 Act’). However, the disputes frequently arose about how to determine the author of phonogram under the 1957 Act, because it didn't have the definition clause of the author of phonogram, in contrast, the 1987 Act had that of the producer of phonogram and so the latter had the relatively clear criteria of determining the producer of phonogram. In addition, in those days of the 1957 Act, the right consciousness was very weak not only on the phonogram but on the copyrights in general, so the contents of contract were not clear, and even the cases were not uncommon there was no written contract, it made worse to solve the disputes about the interpretation of the meaning of the contract. Under these circumstances, the Decision has presented relatively clear criteria that, to determine the author of phonogram under 1957 Act, the criteria of determining the phonogram producers under the current Korean Copyright Act should be applied, and it seems to act as one of the useful guidelines to resolve further similar disputes in this country.