Illegal webtoon distribution, counterfeit K-pop merchandise... MCST discusses responses to overseas infringement

[Financial News] The government and the content industry will work together to combat the unauthorized distribution of Korean content overseas and the counterfeiting of K-pop-related products.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 5th, the 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council will be held at 2 p.m. that day at the Korea Press Center in Jung District, Seoul. The meeting, chaired by First Vice Minister Kim Young-soo of the ministry, will bring together seven government ministries and agencies, including the Korea Media and Communications Commission, the Ministry of Intellectual Property and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; seven public institutions, including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency; and 19 private-sector associations and organizations.
The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association will propose expanding the targets and scope of emergency blocking, while the Korea Broadcasting Association will propose establishing a cooperation system with paid-TV operators to combat illegal Internet Protocol television (IPTV).
The Korea Animation Industry Association will call for measures to combat the illegal sharing of animation through social media (SNS), while the Korea Electronic Publishing Association will seek measures to address the illegal distribution of webtoons and web novels. The Korea Popular Music Industry Association will request support for a survey of counterfeit and imitation K-pop products in China and for follow-up measures.
The government will outline responses to the illegal distribution of K-content, measures to protect K-brands overseas, and ways to combat intellectual property rights violations using Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The National Police Agency will explain the online copyright infringement response project (I-SOP), which it operates jointly with INTERPOL. The Korea Copyright Protection Agency, the Game Rating and Administration Committee and the Korean Film Council, among others, will present case studies on responses to infringement.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism activated the INTERPOL I-SOP cooperation network based on a tip from WEBTOON. Working with the National Police Agency and local investigative authorities, it shut down three illegal webtoon and web novel distribution sites based in North Africa in mid-July and arrested one operator. According to investigation results released by the ministry in August, the sites had illegally copied and distributed a total of 83,688 pieces of content. The second phase of the I-SOP project, launched last year, will continue through 2029.
The council was launched in October 2019 under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the Copyright Protection Council. In 2020, it expanded the scope of its discussions to include industrial property rights linked to the cultural content industry.
Vice Minister Kim said, "We will actively reflect the voices from the field discussed at this council in our policies and do our utmost to ensure that the rights of our content creators are properly protected overseas."

[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter