Chung & Partners Succesfully Represented Renowned U.S company in Policing Intellectual Property in Korea

Recently, Mr. Wonil Chung, a partner at Chung & Partners, has successfully represented NHS, Inc., an internationally-renowned U.S. company which sells skateboards, apparels under various trademarked brand worldwide, in policing their trademark in South Korea.  NHS, Inc. and its Korean distributor had found that counterfeits of SantaCruz, one of the NHS, Inc.’s premium brand, had been made and sold in numerous online shopping mall sites in Korea.  They requested Mr. Wonil Chung to stop them from selling the counterfeits.  Mr. Wonil Chung sent cease and desists letters to the online shopping sites which sold the counterfeits, notifying

Introduction to the Right of Publicity in South 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

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

Two Korean Internet Portal Giants Prosecuted for Aiding Copyright Infringement

Last December 23, the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office prosecuted NHN corporation, the operator of Naver (the largest Internet portal in Korea) and Daum Communications Co., the operatot of Daum for copyright infringement.

The prosecutors said two Internet portals have been aiding copyright infringement of their users by ignoring copyright holders(The Korea Music Copyright Association and the Korea Association of Phonogram Producers) request for removing illegal music files on their sites and taking no actions.  The prosecutors found 10 millions of uploaded music files

Chosun Ilbo, the Largest Newsaper Company in Korea, Sued a Korean Internet Portal Daum for Copyright Infringement

It is reported that Chosun Ilbo, one of the most prestigious newspaper company in South Korea, had filed a lawsuit against Daum Communication, an Internet portal company, for copyright infringement worth of KRW 1 billion loss.

Chosun Ilbo is alleging that Daum illegally posted Chosun Ilbo’s 57,910 news stories, 48,485 photos & illustrations on-line even after expiry of the three-month storage period set in a contract signed with Chosun Ilbo, which allegedly consists of copyright infringement.

Daum is denying all the allegations.

© 2008 Wonil Chung, a Korean Media Lawyer/Chung & Partners, a Korean Media Law Firm.  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.

Korean Copyright Law on Playing Copyrighted Music in Public or Private Business – Starbucks Korea Case

A while ago, I posted an article, titled “Starbucks Korea Sued for Music Copyright Infringement“.  Under Copyright Act of Korea, “it is permitted to play any commercial phonograms or cinematographic works in public if no benefit in turn for the relevant public performance is received from the audience or spectators”.  However this shall not be applied to all the business place.  The Copyright Act does not apply this clause to certain areas of business, such as department stores, shopping malls, airplanes, golf courses and “any places of business regulated under Food Sanitation Act(FSA) where a part of its main contents of business is the appreciation of musical or cinematographic works, being equipped with special facilities to appreciate the musical or cinematographic works”.

The Starbucks coffee shop is regulated under FSA.  The party alleging copyright infringement is insisting “‘appreciation of musical works’ is a part of main