Will Illegal Online Leaks of Korean Movies Be Eradicated?
Government Establishes Copy Prevention Pattern Insertion System... Pilot Operation from Next Month
"Traces of Illegal Recording Leakers Fully Remain... Repeat Leak Offenders Caught"
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency announced on the 29th that they will apply copy protection patterns (watermarks) to Korean films played on paid online content services. Copy protection patterns are a technology that is not easily visible to the eye but reveals hidden patterns or text when extracted by a program. This makes it easy to trace individuals who illegally leak content. A Ministry of Culture official explained, “If content is illegally recorded and leaked using a video capture device, traces of the leaker remain clearly visible in the video.”
The support for copy protection patterns is a pilot project prepared at the request of the Korea IPTV Broadcasting Association and the Korea Film Digital Distribution Association. For overseas direct distribution films (films distributed directly without going through a domestic distributor), the copy protection pattern is applied up to the supply stage, but for Korean films, it is inserted only until the final transmission. A Ministry of Culture official said, “Through this project, we plan to check the actual state of illegal online content distribution and identify habitual leakers for profit.”
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The copy protection pattern will be applied to Korean films scheduled for IPTV supply. Applications will be accepted until the 15th of next month, and about twenty films will be selected. Additionally, about thirty films without confirmed theatrical release dates will be selected by September. A Ministry of Culture official stated, “Even if the copy protection pattern cannot be inserted, indirect protection and the effect of identifying habitual leakers can be achieved.” They added, “With the acceleration of non-face-to-face consumption due to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the increasing proportion of online sales in the film industry, this will serve as an opportunity to strengthen responses to copyright infringement.”
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