캐릭터 저작물의 표절 여부- 마징가와 태권 V를 중심으로 -

Taekwon V, which emerged in 1976, has been known to present as the Korean representative character. However Taekwon V is not free from the suspicion that it plagiarized Mazinger, which is the Japanese representative robot character. Even though the sequel to Taekwon V has not emerged since 1990, local governments and the private sectors have continued to forge the big-sized sculptures imitating the shape of Taekwon V. Therefore the legal analysis to decide whether Taekwon V plagiarized Mazinger or not is necessary regardless of Korean people’s general sentiments towards Taekwon V. Taekwon V and Mazinger are all the robot characters in the cinematographic works. Although Copyright Act basically protects the cinematographic works by giving them the copyright, whether the individual characters in the cinematographic are protected by the Copyright Act or not has been arguably discussed. It is necessary to review whether Taekwon V and Mazinger are individually protected as the character work and therefore protected as the Copyright Act. If characters are granted the copyright works, the similarity of the tow robot characters seriously needs to be discussed. If the two robot characters are substantially alike, Taekwon V, which emerged later in time, possibly copied the Mazinger, the precedent, and therefore infringed the copyright of the Mazinger. Among many theories to judge the substantial similarity, the overall approach and the analytic approach are two main theories. The Supreme Court reviewed the substantial similarity by adopting the analytic approach in a game character case. Even though a lower court judged that Taekwon V and Mazinger are not similar because they are distinctly different in terms of the exterior, and individuality and features. This article made a conclusion on the substantial similarity between the two characters by analyzing them in a detailed and specific manner.