Title: The Evolving Linking Law in South Korea: Chuing it Over
Abstract: Drawing from the increasingly globalized nature of the internet, this manuscript explores the Korean legal regime on copyright infringement for hyperlinking in its various technical forms. We assert that an increasingly sophisticated statutory basis for enforcing rights online has paradoxically fostered judicial ambiguity in instances that would normally be ripe to apply the existing law. The case of Chuing serves as an inflection point in this discourse on the future of copyright liability for Korea, in particular the institution of intermediary liability that has come to suggest the expanding potential for civil and criminal liability despite an overall recalcitrance on the part of Korean jurisprudence to reconcile past provisions with future uncertainty. After considering Korea’s past emphasis on online service providers, we instead formulate a novel approach drawing from international copyright law in the online domain. Specifically, a harmonized viewpoint that encompasses proliferating automation, independence, and the dominance of content can provide a more nuanced, robust solution for the Korean internet space to moderate and monitor hyperlinking as a socially valuable feature with potential to balance rights and norms. Given these factors, we conclude that a hyperlinking liability legal regime grounded in the nature of the link and the dissemination of content that infringes exclusive rights must necessarily prevail over a more nebulous policy and norm-based approach.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-10-20
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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