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What is the copyright protection period?

During his lifetime, my father was active as a novelist and wrote several works. However, with my father's passing one year ago, I am looking into the copyright of the remaining novels and the issue of succeeding to those rights. My father's works are still being sold by publishers, so I would like to know whether our family can assert the copyright holder's rights over these works and how long the copyright protection period is maintained. If copyright is protected even after my father's death, I would also be grateful if you could explain how those rights should be legally exercised.

Answer

Published: 2025-11-11

Author : Kuk Il KIM

Hello. This is an attorney specializing in intellectual property rights at Daeryun Law LLC.

Copyright does not stop at ‘the creator's rights during their lifetime’; it is also protected for the bereaved family for a certain period after death.

As you have inquired, the novels created by the deceased during his lifetime fall under the protection of the author's economic rights prescribed by the 「Copyright Act」, and if the duration of the copyright remains, the heir can succeed to and assert those rights.

Copyright is a right that arises with respect to the products of the creative expression of human thoughts or emotions, and works across literature, art, and academia are its subject of protection.

In particular, novels, poems, papers, lectures, screenplays, and the like are all classified as ‘literary works,’ and no separate registration procedure or notification is required to be recognized as works of authorship.

In other words, legal protection arises automatically from the moment the act of creation takes place.

Copyright is, in principle, attributed to the person who created the work, and in the case of the novels the deceased personally created, the copyright holder was your father during his lifetime.

The copyright protection period lasts during the author's lifetime and for 70 years after death.

In other words, if your father passed away one year ago, that copyright is calculated from January 1 of the year following the year of death and is valid until December 31, 2094.

During this period, the heir can succeed to and exercise the economic rights, such as reproduction, distribution, public performance, and public transmission, that your father held during his lifetime.

What the heir succeeds to is the author's economic rights among the copyrights.

In other words, it is the right to control the economic benefits arising from the use of the work.

For example, the heir can assert those rights with respect to acts such as the printing and publication of the novels or the distribution of e-books, the conclusion of film or drama adaptation contracts, and the approval of the use of derivative works (adaptation, translation, and the like).

However, the author's moral rights (the right to decide on disclosure of the work, the right of attribution, and the right to integrity) are attributed only to the author personally and are not inherited; nonetheless, the heir can prevent acts that harm the author's honor or respond to improper distortion.

The copyright holder can take legal measures against an infringer, such as a criminal complaint for violating the Copyright Act, a claim to stop and prevent copyright infringement, a claim for damages, and a claim for the disposal of illegal reproductions.

If you need a review of the specific procedures for the heir's copyright protection and assertion of rights or of the validity of existing contracts, we recommend that you establish a management strategy regarding the protection of the works with the help of a specialist.

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