Gov't, private sector join forces to combat overseas K-content piracy

The government and private sector are joining forces to discuss ways to protect K-content intellectual property rights overseas.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is holding the 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council on Thursday at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Chaired by First Vice Minister Kim Young-su, the council brings together seven government agencies — including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Communications Commission, the Intellectual Property Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — along with seven public institutions, including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, and 19 private associations and organizations, including the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association.

The Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council was established to enable a joint public-private response to the increasingly sophisticated and varied infringement of K-content intellectual property abroad. Launched in 2019 under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the Copyright Protection Council, it expanded its scope in 2020 to cover industrial property rights linked to the cultural content industry.

At this session, government agencies will present policies covering seven areas: the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's key policies for protecting K-content intellectual property overseas; the Korea Communications Commission's current efforts and cooperation plans to combat illegal content distribution; the Intellectual Property Office's upgraded framework for protecting K-brand rights abroad; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' overview of responses to overseas intellectual property infringement and case sharing; the Ministry of Justice's plans to strengthen international cooperation networks and expedite jointly handled cases; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's approach to addressing intellectual property infringement through free trade agreements; and the Korean National Police Agency's joint operation of the Interpol Online Copyright Infringement Response Project (I-SOP). Public institutions — including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, the Game Rating and Administration Committee and the Korean Film Council — will then present their own K-content protection case studies.

Private associations and organizations will propose policies on overseas intellectual property and relay challenges from the field. The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association plans to call for an expansion of the scope and targets eligible for emergency blocking. The Korea Animation Industry Association will seek measures against the illegal sharing of animation content through social media. The Korea Broadcasters Association will request a cooperative framework with pay-TV operators to counter illegal IPTV services. The Korea Electronic Publishing Association will push for measures against the illegal online distribution of web novels and webtoons. The Korea Popular Music Industry Association will ask for a survey into the actual state of counterfeit and imitation K-pop products in China, along with follow-up support.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has previously worked with the Korean National Police Agency, local police overseas, Interpol and the domestic content industry to shut down sites that had been illegally distributing K-content — including webtoons, web novels and drama series — on a large scale, and to apprehend their operators.

"The more K-content is loved around the world, the more sophisticated the methods of intellectual property infringement become, making close public-private cooperation more important than ever," First Vice Minister Kim said. "We will do our utmost to actively reflect the voices from the field discussed at this council in our policies, so that the rights of our content creators are properly protected overseas."