Former Melon Operator CEO Jailed for Embezzling Copyright Royalties (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] The former CEO of the Melon operating company was detained in court on charges of embezzling copyright (neighboring) royalties worth billions of won that should have been received by singers and composers.

The Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Chief Judge Park Sanggu) sentenced Shin Mo (58), the former CEO of the former Melon operator Loen Entertainment (now Kakao M), to 3 years and 6 months in prison and detained him in court on the 16th on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud) and others.

Former Vice President Lee Mo (56), who was tried together, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison with 4 years probation, and former Head Kim Mo (50) was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison with 3 years probation.

They were prosecuted on charges of embezzling a total of 18.2 billion won by manipulating Melon members' music download records from 2009 to 2013 to 'self-pay' 4.1 billion won in copyright royalties. Shin and others registered songs whose copyright protection period had expired as rights songs of LS Music, which they established. They also fabricated that Melon users downloaded songs whose copyright protection period had ended.

In 2010, they changed the copyright royalty settlement method from 'occupancy rate settlement' to 'individual settlement' and excluded fees from service non-users from the settlement. They embezzled this without informing the copyright holders, who were the contracting parties.

The court recognized all the charges as guilty and pointed out, "The defendants committed crimes by deceiving music rights holders through fraudulent means and embezzling the amounts they should have received," adding, "The loss of trust makes the blameworthiness very high."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.