It is reported that the Fair Trade Commission, the Korean Antitrust watchdog, has begun an investigation whether 3 national broadcasters, KBS, MBC, SBS, violated Fair Trade Law. Before this investigation, TV drama producers had publicly claimed that 3 broadcasters abused their market dominating positions and forced them to assign all the intellectual properties regarding the produced drama to the broadcasters. The producers also alleged that the broadcasters have fixed consignment sale fees. (more…)
Category: Entertainment Law
KT, Softbank Inked Contents Investment Fund Deal
Yesterday it was announced that KT, Korea’s telephone and IPTV company, and Softbank, a Japan-based telecom and Internet group will equally invest 20 billion won in a joint fund to secure contents for digital media such as web-based television. By signing the deal with the Japanese company, KT, the No. 2 IPTV operator, wants to secure copyrights to a vast volume of content, (more…)
A Cosmetics Company Sued IVY, a Korean Famous Female Singer, for Damaging Its Brand Image
A Korean cosmetics Company filed a lawsuit against its model, Ivy, a K-pop female singer, alleging her lies and scandal-plagued private life has damaged its brand images.
The cosmetics company had hired Ivy as its advertisement model last April, but after then, Ivy got a scandal with her ex-boyfriend who allegedly had attempted to blackmail her with a revealing video clip showing him with the K-pop star. Ivy has stopped her career until now and the cosmetics company claims it constitutes a breach of contract under which Ivy is required not to harm the image of the company or its brand with any scandalous or improper behavior. You can read the news article here.
There was a similar case between a top T.V star Choi, Jin-Sil, and its advertiser. The company claimed that (more…)
Who’s Who in Korean Film Industry / Producers and Investors
Early in this year, Korean Film Council(KOFIC) published “Who’s Who in Korean Film Industry-Producers and Investors“. The name says it all. It deals with key producers and investors in Korean film industry with interviews and profiles. It also includes an article titled “Investment System in Korean Film Industry” which I think very interesting to read, (more…)