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

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

Chung & Partners Succesfully Defended its Client in a High Profile Criminal Case

Last September, Supreme Porsecutors Office(SPO) investigated the ex-head of Military Mutual Aid Association(MMAA) and his son as they had received 30,000 stocks of Kenertec, a Korean Energy company, from its representative in response to securing investments from the MMAA.

Mr. Wonil Chung, a partner of Chung & Partners, represented the son and succeeded in making the SPO drop the charge and not prosecuting him.

Afterward, the SPO prosecuted only the ex-head of MMAA to the court, but last Friday, Seoul Central District Court sentenced not guilty stating there is no evidence that supports there had happened any illegal activities.

Under Korean Criminal Law, a person who, administering other’s business, receives property or obtains advantage from a 3rd party in response to an illegal solicitation

FTC’s Antitrust Ruling on Intel Goes to the Court

Yesterday it was reported that Intel Corp. had filed a lawsuit to the Seoul High Court against a 26 billion won ($18.7 million) fine handed down by Fair Trade Commission(FTC).

Previously the FTC fined Intel in June for abuse of its market dominating position after a three-year investigation.   According to the agency, Intel had been offering rebates to major local personal computer makers, including Samsung Electronics, on condition that they not buy central processing units from Intel’s rival, U.S.-based Advanced Micro Devices.

Under Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act(MRFT) of Korea, “No market-dominating enterpriser shall commit acts such as unreasonably interfering with the business activities of other enterprisers or unreasonably impeding the participation of new competitors”.  Intel is currently being regarded as a market-domination enterpriser under MRFT.

Intel stated in its complaint that FTC  had made errors both in fact finding and legal reasoning and the Court would confirm there had been no violation of law in Intel’s business in Korea.

© 2008 Wonil Chung, a Korean Anti-trust Lawyer/Chung & Partners, a Korean Anti-trust 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.

Lone Star Sent a Letter to Korean Government Notifying Potential Lawsuit for Damages by KEB Sale Deferment?

Last week, Korean government announced that it would initiate reviewing process for the approval of KEB sale soon.  Interestingly enough, today it was reported also that before the government’s announcement, Lone Star Fund had sent an official letter to Korean government regarding government’s approval issue on the long-waited sale of Korea Exchange Bank(KEB) from Lone Star Fund to HSBC bank.  Lone Star Fund and HSBC had entered into the stock purchase agreement and the deadline of the agreement is coming on the end of this July.  It was reported that Lone Star Fund stated in that problematic letter that if the Korean government kept delaying the approval, the fund would file a lawsuit domestically and internationally against Korean government for the compensation of damages by the sale’s deferment(here is a news article).

Well, one, especially western people, can say that there would be no problem in sending a letter to the other party noticing potential legal disputes.  However, it is quite unusual in Korean legal culture that a private enterprise warns the government stating otherwise it would sue the government.

As a matter of law, the fund would be permitted to file a lawsuit to a Korean court, however the chances are that the fund would not win the case.  Under Korean law, in order for the fund to win the case, the fund must prove there have been an unlawful act of Korean government in delaying the approval.  But, the approval itself is a right, not a obligation, of the government provided by the law and there have been lawsuits affecting the validity of the ownership of KEB by the fund, which have made Korean government hold the approval procedures

Internet Portals Including Yahoo! Korea Lost a Libel Suit for a Post on Their Websites

Are Internet portals liable for a defamation caused by articles posted on their web pages?

The Seoul High Court said Yes in a libel suit brought by a man who claimed to have been suffered from an article on Internet portals’ website allegedly saying he had made his ex-girlfriend die.  After the article appeared on-line, hundreds of Internet users identified him and moreover posted his photograph.

The Seoul High Court ordered four Korean major portals ― Naver, Daum, Cyworld and Yahoo! Korea ― to pay a total of 30 million won ($30,000) in compensation to the plaintiff.

The court found the major portals should be regarded as “semi-media” spreading information to unsuspecting persons, as they have rights to position news on the screen and invite tens of thousands of readers everyday.  The court ruled that Internet portals should decide whether the contents of a posting defame a person’s character and should either delete or block access to those postings