What does copyright protect?
Copyright is a legal right that gives creators control over how their original works are copied, distributed, performed and adapted. In the U.S., it protects "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression" (17 U.S.C. § 102(a)): literary works, music, recordings, films, artworks, photographs, architecture and computer software. Korea's Copyright Act defines a work as a creative production that expresses human thoughts or emotions (art. 2).
- Protected
- Original expression: text, music, images, code
- Not protected
- Ideas, facts, procedures, short names and titles
- When it starts
- Automatically, at creation
- Term
- Life of the author plus 70 years (general rule)
Two requirements matter most. The work must be original, meaning independently created with at least a minimal degree of creativity, and in the U.S. it must be fixed in some stable form. In Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service (1991), the Supreme Court held that an alphabetical phone directory lacked the creativity required, rejecting the idea that hard work alone ("sweat of the brow") earns copyright.
The idea-expression distinction
Copyright doesn't protect ideas, methods, systems or facts (17 U.S.C. § 102(b)). Baker v. Selden (1880) held that a book explaining a bookkeeping system protected the author's explanation but not the system itself. When an idea can be expressed in only one or a few ways, the expression merges with the idea and isn't protected (the merger doctrine), and stock elements of a genre, such as a detective with a troubled past, are free for everyone (scènes à faire).
This line keeps copyright from blocking the spread of knowledge and fits with free expression protected by the First Amendment. Korea draws the same line: courts compare protected creative expression, not shared ideas or common plot devices, when deciding whether copying occurred.
If ideas could be owned, every new story would need a license. The idea-expression line keeps culture open while still rewarding the people who make it.
What rights does a copyright owner have?
U.S. law gives owners exclusive rights to reproduce the work, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, and perform and display it publicly (17 U.S.C. § 106). Korea's Copyright Act divides rights into two groups. Economic rights (저작재산권) cover reproduction, public performance, public transmission, exhibition, distribution, rental and derivative works (arts. 16–22). Moral rights (저작인격권) protect the author's personal connection to the work: the right to make it public, to be named as author, and to preserve its integrity (arts. 11–13). Moral rights can't be transferred.
U.S. law recognizes moral rights only narrowly, mainly for certain works of visual art under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. That's one of the biggest structural differences between the two systems. Owners can license or sell economic rights by contract, which is why publishing and streaming deals matter so much in practice.
How long copyright lasts
In both countries the general term is the author's life plus 70 years. In the U.S., works made for hire and anonymous works last 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever ends first. Korea extended its term from 50 to 70 years after the author's death in 2013, following the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, and works by organizations generally last 70 years from publication. When copyright expires, the work enters the public domain and anyone may use it.
| United States | Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| General term | Life + 70 years | Life + 70 years (since 2013) |
| Works for hire / organizations | 95 years from publication or 120 from creation | 70 years from publication |
| Moral rights | Limited (VARA) | Broad, non-transferable |
| Registration | Optional, needed to sue for U.S. works | Optional, gives evidentiary benefits |
Fair use and other limits
U.S. fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107) allows some unlicensed uses based on four factors: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the market. In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music (1994), the Court held that 2 Live Crew's commercial parody of "Oh, Pretty Woman" could be fair use, emphasizing whether a use is "transformative." In Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2023), it narrowed that idea, holding that licensing a Warhol print based on a photograph for a magazine cover shared the same commercial purpose as the original and wasn't fair use.
Korea has specific exceptions, such as quotation for news, criticism, education and research (art. 28), and since 2011 a general fair use clause modeled on U.S. law (art. 35-5, numbered art. 35-3 until a 2019 renumbering). Courts weigh similar factors.
- Feist v. Rural Telephone (1991)
- Facts aren't protected; originality needs minimal creativity
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose (1994)
- A commercial parody can be fair use if transformative
- Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2023)
- Same commercial purpose weighed against fair use
AI and copyright
Generative AI raises two questions. First, who owns AI output? The U.S. Copyright Office requires human authorship, and in Thaler v. Perlmutter (D.C. Cir. 2025) the court upheld its refusal to register an artwork listed as created autonomously by an AI system. Works combining human creativity with AI assistance can be protected to the extent of the human contribution, such as selection, arrangement or editing. Korea's Copyright Act also defines works as human expression, and the government's guidance has taken the same position.
Second, is training AI on copyrighted works fair use? That question is being litigated in many U.S. cases brought by authors, artists and news organizations, with early rulings reaching different conclusions depending on how the works were obtained and used. Privacy questions about training data overlap with privacy rights in the U.S., and licensing deals depend on freedom of contract.
Copyright was built around a human with a pen. AI forces the law to decide whether creativity is about the result or about the person behind it.
- What does copyright protect?
- Original creative expression such as writing, music, art, photos, film and software, but not ideas, facts or methods.
- How long does copyright last?
- Generally the author's life plus 70 years in both the U.S. and Korea, with different rules for corporate and anonymous works.
- Do I need to register copyright?
- No. Protection is automatic, but in the U.S. registration is needed before suing over a U.S. work and brings extra remedies.
- Can AI-generated works be copyrighted?
- Not without human authorship. Human contributions to AI-assisted works can be protected.
References and official sources
- 17 U.S.C. § 102, Subject matter of copyright. Cornell LII
- 17 U.S.C. § 107, Fair use. Cornell LII
- 저작권법. 국가법령정보센터
- Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991). Justia
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994). Justia
- 17 U.S.C. § 106, Exclusive rights in copyrighted works. Cornell LII