A ruling has been made that using a court judgment received from the court for personal purposes does not constitute a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.
According to the legal community on the 1st, the Supreme Court Division 1 (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) recently overturned the original ruling that found Mr. A guilty of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and remanded the case to the Daejeon District Court.
In July 2020, Mr. A applied to the Daejeon District Court to view, copy, and print trial records related to his criminal case. Subsequently, he received a copy of the judgment from the court, which included the names, dates of birth, and prior criminal records of himself and co-defendant Mr. B.
Two years later, Mr. A filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. B and attached the previously received copy of the judgment to a petition submitted to the court. He was then prosecuted for violating the Personal Information Protection Act on the grounds that he used Mr. B’s personal information beyond the originally intended purpose. Article 19 of the Personal Information Protection Act prohibits using personal information obtained from a personal information handler for purposes other than those intended or providing it to third parties.
The first and second trials ruled that the court qualifies as a "personal information handler" and found Mr. A guilty of violating the Personal Information Protection Act, sentencing him to a fine of 700,000 won. However, the Supreme Court distinguished between courts handling administrative affairs and those handling judicial affairs, ruling that courts responsible for judicial affairs are excluded from being considered "personal information handlers."
The Supreme Court stated, "Even if a court responsible for judicial affairs allows a defendant to view and copy trial records upon request, it cannot be regarded as providing personal information as a personal information handler."
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