저작권법상 민·형사적 구제제도 개정 내용의 법정책적 검토 = Legal and Policy Analysis of the Amendments to Civil and Criminal Remedies in the Copyright Act

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

On January 29, 2026, the Partial Amendment to the Copyright Act was passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly and promulgated on February 10. This amendment supplemented civil and criminal remedies as well as enforcement systems to establish a civil compensation framework that can substantially guarantee recovery for rights holders and appropriate criminal sanctions.
Accordingly, in civil law, a punitive damages system was legislated, allowing the court to increase damages up to five times the recognized amount, taking certain circumstances into account. In criminal law, the penalties were strengthened so that those who infringe copyright property rights, etc., may be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won.
This amendment seems to be informed by prior legislative research and National Assembly review reports, but the provisions affect the entire copyright system and may lead to negative cases. Therefore, this paper examines the legislative content and its impact, and considers the legislative effects and responses related to it.
It is clear that the amendment has strengthened civil and criminal remedies. However, the extent to which the protective effect of copyright is improved by punitive damages and increased criminal penalties may fall short of the legislature’s expectations, and such legislative measures may foster settlement-fee profiteering and contribute to the proliferation of social issues.
Thus, it may be considered to exclude non-commercial or minor infringements from criminal punishment in order to prevent the indiscriminate abuse of criminal remedies, while encouraging the appropriate use of civil remedies including punitive damages, and to amend the joint punishment provisions to enhance the effectiveness of corporate punishment. Although discussions on these matters have already taken place, there is a need to evaluate the content of the current amendments from a legal and policy perspective and to rationally reflect the outcomes of such discussions in legislation aimed at resolving these issues.