When medical institutions put resources into electronic medical records (EMR), it is important to pay attention to the system design and the channel through which patients can apply for duplicate EMR. Judging from the opinions of the Federal Court of Australia in the case of ＂Primary Health Care Limited v Commissioner of Taxation＂, it is difficult for physicians to obtain copyrights of medical records (MR). As the use of EMR mandates that physicians comply with system requirements for MR, it was even more difficult for the court to agree that physicians have infused intellectual property into EMR. The question of whether physicians own MR copyrights will be a factor in deciding the channel through which copies of MR can be made available to patients. This article will explore future development of EMR based on the Medical Service Act, the Freedom of Government Information Law, the Personal Information Protection Act and the Copyright Act, so that physicians are aware that they may not hold the copyright of EMR.
