응용미술저작물의 분리가능성 요건에 대한 소고 : Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands 판결에 대한 평석

Clothes serve for the purpose of communication offering certain information such as what people those wear uniforms do. Some typical expressions would be used over and over again that the designs would give certain idea to beholders and create a common idea about roles or jobs related to the uniforms. This is a kind of communication. We could face problems whether Copyright law can protect those utilitarian functions serving for communication process, because it is not clear that such aspects could be entirely treated as functional element disregarding its artistic aspects in part. However, we should consider Idea Expression Dichotomy to respond to this question effectively. Since the 1976 Copyright act was enacted in the U.S., although there has been no doubt that applied art can be protected by the Copyright act, there has remained confusion in interpreting the statutory separability requirement for a long time. However, Federal Supreme Court’s decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. led such confusion to the end. It is expected to affect to interpretation of Copyright law in S. Korea, because we also has received the Copyright Act of the U.S. We anticipate this decision to contribute enhancing legal stability in Copyright area.