In 2023, the European Union released its first-every Economic and Security Strategy. In the midst of intensifying US-China competition, de-risking is the policy the EU has elected. More than half of the European countries’ overseas investments flow into Asia. Among many countries, China and Japan attract a large investment and South Korea plays an important role with its geographical advantages. European companies in Asia are expected to face more legal issues related to intellectual property rights in the future, and the legal issues related to employee works are likely to increase. Therefore, it is important to pay close attention to the legislative developments in China and South Korea regarding work-made-for-hire.

China’s history of copyright law is rather short from its first enactment and promulgation in 1910 to the third revision of the Copyright Act in 2021. However, by enacting and enforcing the copyright laws, copyright in China is protected as it is in South Korea.

In addition, as China is Korea’s largest economic partner and a very important trade, cultural, and diplomatic partner, the issue of rights to business creations between companies continues to arise. Therefore, it is important for researchers to study the rights issues between Korea and China because of the controversies regarding works made for hire.

For European companies preparing to expand into Asian countries, this paper can provide an introduction to the issues and developments in Asia regarding “work product”. It introduces work product in Korea and China and presents problems and solutions. It compares the two countries’ work product policies and suggests ways to improve them.

I. Introduction In 2023, the European Union released its first-every Economic and Security Strategy. In the midst of intensifying US-China competition, de-risking is the policy the EU has elected [1]. The centerpiece of the security strategy is the possibility of restricting overseas investment by European companies with “sensitive technologies”, represented by advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence. More than half of the European countries’ overseas investments flow into Asia. Among many countries, China and Japan attract a large investment and South Korea plays an important role with its geographical advantages. European companies in Asia are expected to face more legal issues related to intellectual property rights in the future, and the legal issues related to employee works are likely to increase. Therefore, it is important to pay close attention to the legislative developments in China and South Korea regarding work-made-for-hire. According to Article 2, No. 31 of the Copyright Act of the Republic of Korea, a work-made-for-hire is a “work created by a person engaged in the business of a corporation or other user (hereinafter referred to as a ‘corporation’) under the plan of a corporation, organization, or other user”. Article 9 of the Copyright Act also defines that “the author of a business work published in the name of a corporation or other user shall be the corporation or other user unless otherwise specified in a contract or work rule”. The idea is to make sure that the person who created the work owns the rights to it. According to this principle, Mr. B, an employee of Company A, should own the copyright of the work he creates. However, if the work is published in the name of Company A, the copyright, then, belongs to the company, not to Mr. B. Such regulation exists due to the work environment of a corporation: today’s creative works are often the result of the collaborative work of several people within an organization, and the degree of involvement in the creative work is different [2], and identifying the creator as one or two people is often contrary to reality and can make the rights relationship more complicated. In other words, there are many inconveniences in utilizing and trading the work. Therefore, if the author of the work is a corporation, it is possible to use copyright more practically and the rights relationship is clear [3]. South Korea boasts a strong competitiveness in its work-made-for-hire produced by highly creative works. Broadcasting content is a prime example of this, and according to the Korea Communications Commission’s “2021 Broadcasting Industry Survey Report”, the value of Korea’s broadcasting program exports increased by $124.4 million (33.9%) year-on-year to $490 million [4]. The popularity of the movie “Minari”, as well as “The Squid Game”, [continua..]