[1] The subject of copyright protection and the standard for determining actual similarity between two copyrighted works

[2] The case holding that the 4 trigram shape " "(5,00 won)" and the design "(10,000 won)" are similar in terms of the fact that the 4 trigram shape "in the direction of visibility from the left side in the direction of visibility, such as "building (building, string, stiff, stiff, stiff, stiff, i. e., g., i., i., i., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g., g.,

[1] Article 2 subparag. 1 (see current Article 2 subparag. 1), Article 10 (see current Article 10), Article 93 (see current Article 125) of the former Copyright Act (wholly amended by Act No. 8101 of Dec. 28, 2006) / [2] Article 2 subparag. 1 (see current Article 2 subparag. 1), Article 10 (see current Article 10), Article 93 (see current Article 125) of the former Copyright Act (wholly amended by Act No. 8101 of Dec. 28, 2006)

[1] Supreme Court Decision 98Da46259 delivered on November 26, 199 (Gong2000Sang, 28) Supreme Court Decision 99Da10813 delivered on October 24, 200 (Gong2000Ha, 2381) Supreme Court Decision 2007Da354 Delivered on May 28, 2009

Plaintiff (Law Firm Sejong, Attorneys Jeon Young-deok et al., Counsel for the plaintiff-appellant)

Bank of Korea (Law Firm KEL, Attorneys Kim Yong-hoon et al., Counsel for the defendant-appellant)

Seoul High Court Decision 2008Na30712 decided February 3, 2009

The appeal is dismissed. The costs of appeal are assessed against the plaintiff.

The grounds of appeal are examined (to the extent of supplement in case of supplemental appellate briefs not timely filed).

1. The subject of copyright protection is a creative expression form that specifically expresses ideas or emotions obtained by human mental efforts in terms of words, letters, sound, color, etc. and the contents expressed, namely, ideas or theories, etc., are not subject to copyright protection, in principle, even if they have originality and originality. Thus, in order to determine whether there is a substantial similarity between two copyrighted works in order to determine whether a copyright has been infringed, only those constituting creative expression forms shall be prepared (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decisions 9Da10813, Oct. 24, 200; 2007Da354, May 28, 2009).

2. We examine the above legal principles and records.

원고 도안 “ ”과 피고 도안 “ (5,000원 권), (10,000원 권)”은 4괘 형상이 왼쪽 위로부터 시계방향으로 ‘건(건, ), 감(감, ), 곤(곤, ), 리(리, )’의 순서에 따라 사각형 형태로 모아서 가로와 세로로 엇갈리게 배치되어 있는 점에서 유사점이 있기는 하다. 그러나 4괘의 개별적인 형상 자체는 예전부터 전해져 오던 것이고, ① 원고 도안은 ‘건, 곤’ 괘가 세로로, ‘감, 리’ 괘가 가로로 배치되어 있는 반면, 피고 도안은 ‘건, 곤’ 괘가 가로로, ‘감, 리’ 괘가 세로로 배치되어 있는 점, ② 원고 도안은 중심의 십자(┼) 축을 중심으로 4괘가 정렬되어 있는 반면, 피고 도안은 그렇지 않은 점, ③ 원고 도안은 각 괘의 길이가 틀에 갇히지 않은 채 벗어나 있어 바람개비 모양을 연상시키는 반면, 피고 도안은 외곽 틀 내로 각 괘의 길이가 제한되어 있는 점, ④ 원고 도안은 ‘건, 감’ 괘는 빨간색으로, ‘곤, 리’ 괘는 파란색으로 채색되어 있는 반면, 피고 도안은 채색이 되어 있지 않은 점 등에서 차이가 있으므로, 양 도안은 그 표현에 있어서 실질적으로 유사하다고 할 수 없다.

Therefore, without considering the need to further examine whether Defendant’s design was created based on Plaintiff’s design, the Defendant cannot be deemed to have infringed on Plaintiff’s copyright.

The judgment of the court below to the same purport is justifiable.

The court below did not err in the misapprehension of legal principles as to copyright infringement as asserted in the ground of appeal.

3. Therefore, the appeal is dismissed, and the costs of appeal are assessed against the losing party. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench.

Justices Yang Chang-soo (Presiding Justice)