Legal Relation of Parties on Transactions in UCITA

UCITA상의 전자정보거래 당사자 간의 법률관계

Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is the first legislative attempt in the world that deals with transaction of digital information. This however gave rise to endless controversies and as of February 10, 2003, its life as the uniform law has expired. There are four kinds of relationships that UCITA regulates for the entities involved in information trading namely, 1) Relationship between licenser and licensee 2) The triangle relationship between dealers, end-user and publisher 3) Relationship between information right transferor and transferee 4) Relationship between financier, licenser and licensee. Amongst these, the most significant one is the triangle relationship amongst the publisher, commonly known as the licenser in the mass market, end-user and dealer. At the essence of the relationship is that the dealers is liable to refund the payment for the information regarding the end user if he/she does not agree with the publisher on the license of the common market. Looking at the relationship between license transferor and transferee, the transfer of license may be prohibited but the special contract must be conspicuously carried out. The relationship financier, licenser and licensee is unique to the United States and is rather unfamiliar to us. UCITA has been criticized for preferentially protecting the benefits of licensers especially when it comes to the specific regulations for the relationship. Therefore, it is not advisable to blindly accept UCITA regulations. However, UCITA does have components that we can utilize in formulating our own digital information trade regulations, save its proprietary nature as an American law and its preferential treatment for licensers.