Director, Policy and Legal Research Center, Korea Music Contents Association; Ph. D, Republic of Korea
Correspondence to Hyun-sook Kim, E-mail: record@paran.com
Volume 19, Number 3, Pages 89-110, September 2024.
Journal of Intellectual Property 2024;19(3):89-110. https://doi.org/10.34122/jip.2024.19.3.5
Received on July 08, 2024, Revised on July 19, 2024, Accepted on September 03, 2024, Published on September 30, 2024.
Copyright © 2024 Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Visual media platforms are expanding, and providing global access to content with just an internet connection. As video services become unrestricted by time, location, and borders, the issue of sync licenses for music used in videos has re-emerged in the video and music copyright markets. Contract issues, once considered a matter of local practice, now extend across national boundaries. This study examines the nature of sync licenses under copyright law. It aims to define the concept, identify the ownership rights involved, interpret how economic and moral rights apply, and determine who can exercise these rights. Moreover, ensuring appropriate protection for both music industry rights holders and visual media users is a key challenge in copyright law. Hence, this study also identifies the problems faced in sync licenses, explores how academia and industry can respond, and examines industry-specific issues. This investigation is valuable as Sync licenses are not just domestic issues. As new technologies develop and the environment changes, continuously reviewing and reflecting on whether the objectives and balance of copyright law are being achieved is essential.
Synchronization rights, Sync rights, Music copyright, Sound recording sync
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
The author received manuscript fees for this article from Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.