Copyright law only protects expression, not ideas. Since a work under copyright law refers to a creative expression of ideas, thoughts, or feelings obtained by human mental endeavor in the field of culture such as literature, academia, or art, copyrig...
Copyright law only protects expression, not ideas. Since a work under copyright law refers to a creative expression of ideas, thoughts, or feelings obtained by human mental endeavor in the field of culture such as literature, academia, or art, copyright protects only the creative form of expression that specifically expresses ideas to the outside world through words, letters, sounds, colors. Therefore, the idea or basic theory behind the expression, even if it has originality and novelty, cannot be a work in principle except in the case of a novel story. Under U.S. copyright law, copyright protection for original works of authorship does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, or discoveries, regardless of the form in which they are described, explained, depicted, or embodied in the work.
In the case of artistic works, according to the judicial court, the subject matter, style, texture of the picture, and technique are not protected as ideas, and the specific elements of the external appearance of the work, such as the shape of a specific pattern, a properly arranged multicolored flower pattern, the shape of a flower, and the type, position, shape, and color of insects placed around the flower, as well as the shape and color of stems, leaves, and leaves, the specific shape of a design, the shape of the face of a rabbit doll, and the shape of the eyes, nose, mouth, arms, and legs, are considered to be expressions protected by copyright law. This means that only the externally visible form of the work is an expression that is subject to copyright protection.
As only the external appearance of an artwork is considered an expression protected by copyright law, many contemporary works of art fail to be protected by copyright law. One of the most important characteristics of contemporary art is that it is conceptual, meaning that ideas are at the essence of the work, and in conceptual art, ideas form the originality of the work and often have little creative expression. The decision of what to consider as an idea and what to consider as an expression is ultimately a judgment on what to protect by copyright law, so it is necessary to examine what constitutes originality in conceptual art and is therefore worthy of protection. In the past, in the case of representative art, the artist's creative personality was expressed through the uniqueness of the technique while the subject matter was shared, but in conceptual art, the concept that the artist wanted to present to the audience through the work is given priority, and the creative personality can be found in the concept inherent in the work of art. Therefore, in contemporary art with conceptual features, it is not the external appearance of the work, but the form in which the idea inherent in the work is organically combined with the appearance of the work that should be considered as an expression and protected by copyright law.
On the other hand, it is possible to criticize that this argument leads to protecting ideas and encourages a monopoly of ideas that should be in the public domain, which goes against the ultimate goal of copyright law. However, the form in which an idea is organizationally combined with extrinsic elements of a work is distinct from the idea itself, as it presupposes the external manifestation of the idea. Nevertheless, it can be argued that this argument is not free from the subjective and arbitrary judgment of the court, as it inevitably involves a judgment about the idea inherent in the original work in determining copyright infringement. This is because ideas are not tangible. However, this overlooks the fact that most conceptual art today is presented with a critical text that explains the artist's intentions and the meaning of the work. These texts can serve as a kind of objective sign of the ideas that the work was meant to embody. Furthermore, it can be argued that it is the ideas contained in the works that provide the economic incentive for the authors of conceptual art, that conceptual art works are actively created due to market demand without the protection of copyright law, and that the rights to conceptual art works are already protected by social norms in the art world, so copyright law does not need to protect conceptual art. However, the protection of copyright law provides a remedy for infringement of rights and cannot simply be replaced by economic compensation. In addition, protection by social norms in the art world is likely to be limited to some famous artists, so legal protection should still be considered as a valid means of protection. Recent cases in Japan have recognized installation artworks that blur the boundaries between ideas and expression as copyrightable, and cases in Korea have denied the substantial similarity of two similar works by focusing on the intrinsic elements of the works, suggesting the possibility of protecting the ideas of conceptual art.
Conceptual contemporary art is characterized by the fact that the person who actually makes the work is often separated from the person who conceives it. In order to be recognized as an author, creative contribution to the work is required, and creative contribution refers to the actual act of creation. If the creativity of the work lies in the idea and the appearance of the work is only the realization of the idea, and the organic combination between the idea and the concrete expression of the idea is considered to be the object of copyright protection, then the person who conceived the idea of the work and conceived the way to express it in a concrete way, not the person who only made the appearance of the work, would be the author as the person who made the creative contribution to the work. Instead, the work should not reflect the draftman's personality, and even if it does, it should be a secondary element of the work and should not affect its identity. Furthermore, the author's instructions should be so specific that the creation of the work can be characterized as nothing more than the execution of his or her concept.
The determination of what constitutes a forgery may also change if the author is considered to be the one who conceived the work rather than the one who actually made it. In the case of traditional paintings and sculptures, the work must have had the author's actual touch in order to be considered authentic. The ability to determine authenticity through scientific appraisal means that authenticity can be determined from the artwork itself, based on the physical elements of the artwork. On the other hand, in the case of conceptual art, where the authorship of the artist is not important, the authenticity is determined by whether or not the artist has authorized the work. It can be said that the standard for determining authenticity has shifted from scientific appraisal to legal authorization. In conceptual art, the physical object that embodies the artist's ideas is no longer a guarantee of authenticity in and of itself. Furthermore, since the artwork is not treated as a unique authenticity, but as an embodiment of an idea, it can be replaced at will, so even if the artwork is damaged, it is less likely to infringe on moral rights than before. In addition, even if the artwork has been approved as authentic by the author, if the approval is withdrawn, the artwork may lose its status as authentic.
In contemporary art that is conceptual in nature, expression as an object of copyright protection should no longer be limited to the outward appearance presented to the viewer, but should be redefined in such a way that the ideas, feelings, concepts that the artist intends to convey to the viewer are linked to the specific elements that consist the work. This is because the traditional view of copyright law, which divides the creative personality of an artist into ideas and expression, and protects only the expression, or appearance, of a work, is rooted in the classical view that a work of art reflects a universal truth or transcendent essence that cannot and should not be captured or controlled by a single artist. Conceptual art, on the other hand, cannot be explained solely by the visual effect it has on the viewer, as the context in which it was conceived and created, the way it was produced, and the way it is exhibited are inextricably linked to its identity, and cannot be grasped from a single view. In order to protect the copyright of conceptual art, in which the creative personality of the artist is expressed in the process of selecting and arranging elements to realize the idea and the concrete realization of the work, rather than the finished work itself, it is necessary to redefine the dichotomy between idea and expression that has been applied to artistic works. In the case of conceptual art, it is not only the result that is presented to third parties, but also the artist's thoughts, feelings, concepts inherent in the work, which are organically combined with the specific expression of the work, that should be considered as the expression that is protected by copyright law.