Copyright of Textbook Literary Works... Supreme Court: "Belongs to the Author, Not the Ministry of Education"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that unauthorized use of literary works such as poems and paintings included in textbooks constitutes a violation of copyright law. This means that even if the works are included in textbooks, the copyright belongs to the original author, not the Ministry of Education.

On the 17th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Min Yusook) announced that it upheld the original court rulings, which sentenced Cheonjae Education, a textbook and reference book publisher, and a manager-level employee A to fines of 8 million won and 2 million won respectively, on charges of violating copyright law.

Cheonjae Education and A were accused of reproducing poems and fairy tales included in textbooks without the copyright holders' permission and publishing them in commercially issued reference books. It was revealed that they infringed on copyright property rights over 300 times from November 2011 to August 2017.

During the trial, they argued that the copyright of state-issued textbooks belongs to the Ministry of Education and that the published materials were public works that could be freely used. They also claimed that the authors of the works included in the textbooks had entrusted their copyrights to organizations such as the Korea Literary and Academic Copyright Association, and that Publisher A had made post-settlement payments for copyright use with the association, so there was no intent to infringe copyright.

However, the court did not accept their claims. The first trial court stated, "The copyright of poems included in state-issued textbooks belongs to the original copyright holders, not the Ministry of Education that produced the textbooks," and judged that "publishing without prior permission constitutes copyright infringement regardless of customary practice."

The appellate court also recognized the publisher's copyright infringement. The post-settlement payments were made retroactively after the copyright infringement was revealed, without consultation with the copyright holders, and some copyright holders were not affiliated with the association, which was also a factor.

Cheonjae Education and A filed an appeal, but the Supreme Court upheld the original rulings as they were.

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