배포권의 국제소진에 관한 연구-대법원 2023. 12. 7. 선고 2020도17863 판결을 중심으로

Article 20 of the Copyright Act stipulates that the author has the distribution right, and in the proviso, the distribution right is exhausted when the original work or its duplicates are provided for sale or any transactions with the permission of the copyright holder. Article 20 of Copyright Act can be applied to transactions conducted in Korea, but it was not clear under the Copyright Act as to whether the distribution right was exhausted even when the copyrighted work has been provided for transactions such as sales in foreign countries. Meanwhile, discussions have been made on whether parallel imports are allowed in the Patent Act and the Trademark Act. International exhaustion of distribution rights does not have a unified international norm and has been regulated according to each country’s situation. The United States recognizes international exhaustion of copyrights through the Supreme Court’s ruling; Japan recognizes international exhaustion of copyrights through copyright law regulations; and the European Union recognizes only community exhaustion. Korea does not have an express provision in copyright law for international exhaustion of distribution rights, and the Supreme Court has not rendered a ruling on this topic. However, the Supreme Court has recently ruled unequivocally that it acknowledged the international exhaustion of distribution rights on which there have been no precedent. Recognizing the exhaustion of rights, the Supreme Court seeks the justification from the opportunities for economic rewards and the guarantee of free distribution of goods. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled that in order to determine which case is domestic or international exhaustion, it is necessary to look at which country’s market the ownership or dispositive right have been transferred and the work has been provided to the transaction. In addition, the Supreme Court attempted to strike an appropriate balance between the interests of the author and the exhaustion of rights, stating that the first sale conducted outside the area (country) of sales with the permission of the copyright holder does not lead to the exhaustion of distribution right. The Supreme Court’s ruling is pertinent to the situation in Korea, where cross-border product transactions have expanded in recent days, because the consumer’s interest in cross-border choices should take precedence over the benefits that copyright holders will gain through price discrimination by country.