South Korea began to legally protect software with the enactment of the Computer Programs Protection Act on July 1, 1987. Previous literatures have often interpreted Korea’s software protection regime as a direct outcome of the U.S.-Korea Trade Negotiations. However, since the early 1980s, domestic computer users had understood software reproduction in an ambivalent sense, referring both to “modifying software” and “unauthorized reproduction”. In response, the Korean government considered legislation such as the Information Industry Promotion Act which included “the right of developing software” as a way to regulate reproduction practices. At the same time, by participating in the international conferences, the Korean government witnessed that many countries were also struggling to establish consistent legal frameworks for software protection. Against this backdrop, during the U.S.-Korea Trade Negotiations, the Korean government showed a conflicting position from the United States particularly regarding the form of legislation, the inclusion of special provisions, and whether retroactive protection should be applied. Therefore, this paper will demonstrate that, in South Korea’s Computer Programs Protection Act was shaped as a product of these negotiations, emerging from the government’s simultaneous concern with both promoting and protecting the domestic software industry.