거리미술의 법적 보호에 관한 연구 -저작권법을 중심으로

Street art that started out as a counter culture far from the mainstream of the society has now become one of decent art genres art lovers adore. It is definitely a good thing to the artists. However, as more people acknowledge the value of street art, there have been more attempts to use it commercially, and nowadays, there is higher potential of legal disputes regarding street art than ever. Korean Copyright Act does not demand copyrighted work to be created legally. Therefore, it seems to be quite clear that street art with originality should be given copyright protection even though it was attached to other’s premises without any authorization. However, an artist’s control over street art would be somewhat restricted in this sort of cases. Because (i) street artists, especially who drew an unauthorized mural are likely to lose their ownership of the physical copy of it through accession; and (ii) Korean Copyright Act sets out a huge limitation on artworks permanently displayed in public space. Considering the intent of street artists who want their message to be conveyed widely to the public without any restriction, it is hard to say that the current system which does not provide street artists with absolute legal protection is unreasonable. Still, there are some uncertainties in the current system that should be addressed and ameliorated. Among them are (i) whether remuneration should be given to an author who loses his or her ownership of a physical copy of the work through accession; and (ii) whether a person who destroyed the physical copy should pay damages to the author who does not own the copy. In this regard, a reformation on the current legal system with regard to street art should focus on reducing the uncertainties while maintaining the orientation of the system as intended.