earticle

영어

This article reviews the priority among conflicting transfers and licenses￢with an emphasis on the copyright registration. Between conflicting assignees and licensees, the Korean Copyright Act gives priority to the assignee, having the copyright registration according to the first-to-file principle. But, as of a conflict between an assignment and a license, the licensee's interests cannot be adequately protected in comparison with the assignee's, However considerable, the license cannot prevail over the recorded assignment in almost any case. Considering the non-knowingness and vagueness of copyright registration in norms and reality, the Korean priority system is criticized not to reflect both parties' interests properly. Our priority system is advised to revise to strike an appropriate balance in fulfilling the purpose of copyright law. The filing system of non-exclusive license in patent law and the U.S. copyright registration system has been referred to as an alternative to the Korean system. This article proposes the Korean system to include the enlarged subject matter and the detailed contents via digital copyright registration.