Introduction to the Right of publicity in Korea

The legal concept of a right of publicity is relatively a new one in the Korean legal system.  About 25 years ago, affected by the U.S. entertainment law, the Korean legal society began to theorize the right of publicity, and finally the lower courts of Korea approved the right of publicity right as an exclusive property right independent from the traditional right of privacy, although there is no ruling from the Supreme Court and no express provisions therefor are yet legally established.

According to the lower court rulings, the right of publicity is defined as a property right to use the name, portrait or any other identity of a person for commercial purpose and to limit their use.  The court have ruled that the right of publicity

Court Ruled Starbucks Korea Free to Play Copyrighted Music in Its Outlets without Paying Royalties

A few days ago, Seoul Central Court ruled in favor of Starbucks Korea in a copyright lawsuit filed by the Korea Music Copyright Association alleging the Starbucks Korea should pay royalties in playing copyrighted music in its outlets.  I wrote some posts regarding this issue here and here.  The legal issue was whether playing copyrighted music substitutes a mail business of Starbucks Korea.  That is because

Foreign Law Firms to Open Local Branch in Korea – Foreign Legal Consultant Act Passed in Korea

We’ve been asked about this issue from U.S. lawyers or U.S. law school students quite often.  As reported earlier this month, the Foreign Legal Consultant Act was approved by the National Assembly.  The Act allows law firms from the United States and countries which have free trade agreements with Korea to set up local branches to provide legal consulting services.

However, in order to qualify as local consultants, foreign firms will not be allowed to hire locally qualified lawyers. Foreign lawyers cannot be self-employed consultants,

RAIN & JYP Ordered to Pay $8 Million to Hawaiian Concert Promoter – Glimpse on Legal Issues in Korean Music Business, What Is Wrong with That?

South Korean popstar RAIN (Chung, Ji-hoon) and his ex-agency JYP Entertainment had lost their lawsuit in Hawaiian District Court brought by a local promoter, Click Entertainment, alleging Rain’s last minute cancellation of Honolulu concert in 2007 cost them $1.5 million and caused damage to the company’s reputation.

A couple of days ago, the court found in Click’s favour, ruling that Rain and JYP were guilty of both breach of contract and fraud.  Nearly $5 million of the damages payment are punitive, with Rain himself and JYP ordered to pay

Fund Buyers Keep Filing Lawsuits against Fund-Sellers Alleging So-called “Irresponsible Sale”

Recently there can be seen so many lawsuits are being filed against domestic banks with regard to the bank’s irresponsible fund sale.  The Korean fund buyers are alleging the losses in the funds which are still on-going were caused by the fund-sellers’ not informing sufficient information on the risk and possibilities of losses when they put the money to the funds.

As a matter of law, Korean court has ruled that the banks are obliged to inform the customer of the structure of the investment such as fund or option transaction and the risk of possible losses sufficiently when they solicit the customers for investments.  If they neglect that obligation, it constitutes a breach of contract and

There Is No Waiting-Period for Remarriage under Korean Family Law

Recently we got a question regarding the s0-called “waiting-period” of remarriage under Korean family law.  There is no such a thing like “waiting-period” which prohibits a divorced person to remarry within certain period.  Actually there had been a clause of waiting period in Korean Civil Code, but the clause was abolished in 2005.  So if you’re divorced by the Korean family, then you can remarry at any time you want with no legal hindrances.

If you have more questions about divorce, marriage and any other Korean law related issues, please visit our legal consultation page.

© 2009 Wonil Chung, a Korean family lawyer. All rights reserved. Some copyrights, photos, icons, trademarks, trade dress, or other commercial symbols that appear on this post are the property of the respective owners.

Severance Payment or Retirement Pension? When You’re Working for Korean Private School

Recently I got an email question from a foreign teacher in certain Korean private university.  He’s wondering why the university is insisting on retirement pension plan instead of severance payment.

There is an act called Pension for Private Teachers and Staff Act(PPTSA) in Korea, which regulates severance payment issues in private school.  As a matter of law, PPTSA is applied prior to the GWRBA(Guarantee of Workers’ Retirement Benefits Act) and it allows the private schools to set a retirement pension plan for its employees.

With respect to the relationship between the employment contract and the pension plan under PPTSA, Private Universities usually, pursuant to the PPTSA, put the retirement pension clauses, instead of severance payment, in the Rules of Employment(RE) of its own.  As a matter of law, the RE is applied to all the workers in a workplace.  That means, if there exists