With the popularity of the Internet, more and more enterprises and institutions have started to operate wechat public accounts. When posting articles on Wechat's public accounts, it's hard not to feel that the article is too dry using only words. In order to make readers more willing to read, many operators will choose to quote pictures, emojis and so on in the article to increase the reading interest. So, do these citations infringe the copyright of others? Article 2 of the Copyright Act and Article 3 of the Copyright Law of South Korea (2020 revision) , which will come into force on June 1 this year, define "work" as intellectual work that is original in the field of literature, art and science and that can be reproduced in some form. In other words, not all images or memes can be called "works" protected by the Copyright Law of South Korea, and only images that are original and can be reproduced in physical form are protected by the Copyright Law of South Korea. In general, images that can be used by wechat public accounts must have the characteristics that can be copied in a tangible form. Therefore, to judge whether the images cited by wechat public accounts are infringing rights, the main criterion is originality.

In addition, there is a right to copyright protection period, such as the right of citizens to protect the works of life and death of the author 50 years after the December 31. For the purposes of personal study and research, reporting current affairs news, current affairs articles, teaching and research, etc. , no remuneration may be paid to the copyright owner without the permission of the copyright owner, provided that the author's name and title of the work shall be specified, and shall not infringe upon other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner.
Regarding the picture infringement case, in the practice the court focus mainly lies in: 1. The plaintiff, that is, whether the party claiming infringement enjoys the copyright or not.

Generally speaking, the plaintiff must provide proof of Copyright of the picture involved in the case, such as the copyright registration certificate, the picture with the watermark of its logo, the time certificate of the first public release, etc. , unless the defendant has evidence to the contrary, otherwise, the court will usually find that the plaintiff has copyright. However, the above evidence does not represent originality of the picture, or the existence of evidence to the contrary of the plaintiff's copyright, or the existence of flaws in the evidence file, the court will be based on the specific circumstances of the originality of the substantive review judgment, or review the evidence. 2. Whether the defendant, that is, the infringing party, has committed an act of tort. That is, whether the defendant's use of the picture in question is "reasonable use" ? What needs to be clear here is that fair use is not the same as non-profit use. In fact, most articles on wechat public accounts are mainly aimed at propaganda and promotion, but the actual benefits gained through wechat public accounts are difficult to concretize. However, non-profit or non-commercial use is not the same as non-infringement. Unless it constitutes "reasonable use" under Article twenty-two of the Copyright Law of South Korea (2020 revision twenty-four) , the use of the work of the obligee is an infringement.

With the increasing importance of intellectual property rights, the protection of rights holders by the State is becoming more and more high. It is also necessary to enhance their awareness of infringement when using other people's pictures or other intellectual achievements in business operations or propaganda.

First, it should raise its own awareness of copyright, not to download photos from the Internet and use them without authorization; Second, it should strictly prohibit the use of works that others have expressly forbidden to use or republish; and, the use of the works of others shall be in accordance with the principle of "reasonable use" , shall not be for profit and shall be used for non-commercial purposes, and shall specify the name of the author and the title of the work, and shall not infringe upon other rights enjoyed by others according to law. Do Not Tamper with the work of others. It should be noted that when wechat accounts use other people's works, they often add statements such as "reprint or delete. " However, according to the provisions of China's relevant laws and regulations, such as the Copyright Law of South Korea, the regulations on the protection of the right of information network dissemination, and the notice on regulating the order of copyright reprinted on the Internet, these so-called "reprint encroach delete" statement can not prevent the occurrence of violations.

For the sake of prudence, the operator of the public number should strengthen the legal consciousness before using the works of any other person, put an end to the fluky psychology, and avoid getting into unnecessary disputes.

Adhere to the first authorized use of the principle, any picture as long as the composition of the work, even if the network to see the picture works, the user should be licensed by the owner or legal authorized agents to use in business activities; The user should judge whether the picture website has the formal and legal license according to the license agreement between the website and the picture author. The image watermarked on the network is not the only judgment of the copyright of the picture Even if the right to exceed the protection of the picture works, should respect the intellectual property rights of others, should use the picture when the signature or source, not malicious alteration. So that the use of other people's pictures will not constitute infringement.