Seoul Court Ruled Jin-Young Park, Famous Korean Music Composer and Producer, Is Guilty of Plagiarism – Korean Copyright Law on Music Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement

February 11, 2012

On February 10, Seoul Central District Court ruled that Jin-Young Park, one of the most influential music producer and composer, had plagiarized another Korean composer’s song.  The defendant Mr. Park is well-known as the co-owner of JYP Entertainment, one of the top Korean music production company(Gi-Huek-Sa).  He had produced numerous albums for famous K-Pop artists including, but not limited to, Rain, G.O.D, Wonder Girls.

The plaintiff Shin-Il Kim, a K-Pop composer, had filed a lawsuit against Jin-Young Park on July 2011, claiming Mr. Park’s song titled “Someday”, sung by IU, had infringed his song titled “To My Man” and he is entitled to a compensation of approximately 90,000USD.

The Court found that four bars from the chorus of defendant’s song is substantially similar to that of plaintiff’s song which constitutes a copyright infringement and ordered the defendant to pay approximately 20,000USD to the plaintiff as a remedy.

Under Korean copyright law, a claim for plagiarism and copyright infringement will lie when the defendant had an access to the copyrighted work of plaintiff and there exists a substantial similarity between the two works.  With regard to the first element, Read the rest of this entry »


Apple’s Korean Office Paid Compensation to a South Korean User for iPhone Location Tracking – So Does This Mean Korean Court Made an End to the Legal Fight?

July 15, 2011

It was reported that last month Apple’s South Korean office paid $945 of compensation to a South Korean iPhone user for the breaching of privacy by the controversial iPhone user location tracking.  Here is the detail from Reuters.

By the way, some news providers reported that this was the ruling from a Korean district court.  I, as a Korean lawyer, think that statement is half right and half wrong.  Basically it is true that the court issued a ruling which ordered the Apple Korea to pay $945 to the user.  But this was not the formal trial case, but a Request for a Payment Order case.  Payment order is much convenient & simplified legal procedures for claimant to get a judgment from the court compared to a formal lawsuit.  Once a request filed, the Korean court does not question the debtor (in this case, the Apple Korea) and issue a Payment Order within 2 or 4 weeks (in certain courts, within a few days). This payment order, a sort of ruling, asks the opposing party to choose whether to admit the claim as written on the request or to make an objection.  If no objection has been raised from the opposing party within 2 weeks, then Read the rest of this entry »


Court Rulings on the legality of Internet-Based TV Recording Service and Time/Place-Shifting Device Hosting Service – Korea, Japan, Singapore and the U.S.

February 27, 2011

There exist growing needs for consumers to watch TV broadcastings from any places and by any ways they want.  In response to these needs, several new business models have come into; for example, an Internet TV recording and/or streaming service, RS-DVR, SlingBox and any other place/time-shifting devices hosting services.  But the problem is that copyright holders, the TV broadcasting companies, are fiercely objecting to these new business models contending they are infringing their copyrights.  It is quite interesting for an IP lawyer to see how the courts from various countries have found the answer to this legal issue.

Lets’ start with the situation in South Korea, where I’m practicing the law.  Actually there have been two cases related to this issue; Ental TV case and MyTV caseEntal TV was an Internet-based TV recording service.  The registered users paid some amount of fees to the service provider and the service provider recorded TV broadcastings on its server at the request of the individual users with its automated software program, then converted it into the PC file format and sent the file to the user via Internet.  On April 30, 2009, the Seoul High Court ruled this Ental TV service infringed copyright of the TV Broadcasters.  The court found that it was the service provider, not an individual user, who recorded and copied the TV program, because the service provider owned and managed all the facilities used in recording the TV program.  Also the Court added that even though it was the individual user who copied the TV program, the very act of copying Read the rest of this entry »


[Q&A: Family Law] When Foreign Couples Divorce and Get Married in Korea

September 1, 2010

Q) I have some questions about marriage and divorce law in Korea regarding two internationals living in Korea-one is a U.S. citizen, the woman is neither a citizen of Korea nor the U.S.  The woman was forced into a first marriage, against her will, when she lived in her home country.  Can she divorce in absentia and then re-marry in Korea?

A) The Korean court permits international divorce lawsuit basically if the both foreign parties are living in Korea.  If the husband does not reside in Korea, as your question, the divorce lawsuit can be accepted only when she fails to locate him or he answers the lawsuit filed under Korean court.

Regarding the governing law, the divorce case shall be governed in the following order under Korean law:

  1. the same law of nationality of both spouses
  2. the same law of habitual residence of both spouses
  3. the law of the place where is most closely connected with both spouses.

The Korean court shall decide Read the rest of this entry »


[Q&A: Entertainment Law] Can a Film Company Use a Screen Shot Which Contains My Image Without My Consent?

August 15, 2010

Q) I, as a foreign actress living in Korea, recently appeared in a Korean movie that was very successful. I had about 10 lines – 10 minutes of screen time.  Now I see that the film company has put my picture on the back of the DVD case in which the movie has just been released. They Never asked for my permission and Never paid me any money for this.  Do you believe that I have a case against the film company?  Thank You.

A) I understand a certain portion of movie screen shot is printed on the back side of the DVD case.  In this case, the producer, not an actor, has the right to the screen shot.  So the producer does Read the rest of this entry »


[Q&A: Labor Law] Is There a Legally Binding “40 Working Hour a Week Limit” in Korea?

August 11, 2010

Q) Please could you clean up this question that nobody seems to be willing to answer. Is there a legally binding 40 working hour a week or not in Korea?

A) Yes, there is a 40-work-hours clause in Korean labor law.

The Labor Standard Act of Korea provides that “Work hours shall not exceed 40 hours a week, excluding hours of recess”.

However, in case of workers who are not less than eighteen years of age and women workers who are not in pregnancy, a employer and a workers’ representative can legally agree to extend work hours in excess of 40 hours a week to the extent that Read the rest of this entry »


Google Raided By South Korea Police In Street View Probe

August 11, 2010

South Korean police raided Google’s Seoul office on August 2 on suspicion that Google’s Seoul office has illegally gathered personal information for its street mapping service.  The Korean police is investigating whether Google has violated “Protection of Communications Secrets Act”(PCSA) or “Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection”.

For example, according to the PCSA, no person shall censor any mail, wiretap any telecommunications, provide the communication confirmation data, record or listen to conversations between others that are not made public.  It is reported that Read the rest of this entry »


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