게임 규칙에 대한 저작권 인정 판례를 통해 살펴본 패러다임 전환 -대법원 2019. 6. 27. 선고 2017다212095 판례를 중심으로 -

Continuing rapid growth over the past two decades, the Korean game industry, which has become a major industry in South Korea, is suffering from double whammy as of 2019 due to slowing growth in the domestic market and intensifying competition from major foreign countries. In order to overcome the above crisis, the government needs to actively utilize existing IPs and secure box office IPs through large-scale new investments to pioneer and expand new overseas markets. However, in seeking growth strategies using IP, we need to look back on the history of the game copyright dispute. In short, games are not in a single form in themselves but in the nature of complex content, and contrary to the trend that has been recognized for their work as visual and video works, the rules of the game were not recognized as the scope of protection of the works. This is because with the application of the “idea-expression dichotomy,” the rules of the game are only an idea, thus failing to gain status as an original creation and even be subject to the judgment of real similarities. However, the Supreme Court of Korea has recently come under the spotlight for its judgment that the rules of the game, if they have creative personalities, can also recognize infringement of copyright. The main purpose of this article is to examine the background in which the above judgments have come into play, and to explain them as an advanced process, especially in reference to Thomas Kuhn's theory of “paradigm shifting”. The case for this article recognizes copyright infringement on game rules, but it is rather hasty to generalize them immediately, as there are individual and concrete elements depending on the nature of the issue. However, the Supreme Court's ruling is meaningful in that it has provided room for the game rules to recognize copyright infringement based on practical similarities if they also have creative personalities.