Reduced Burden of Copyright Disputes... Introduction of Pre-Indictment Mediation System

Copyright Prosecutor Coordination System, Effect of Non-Prosecution Upon Settlement of Mediation

A mediation system to resolve copyright disputes before prosecution will be introduced. On the 26th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that, in cooperation with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Korea Copyright Commission, it will pilot the 'Copyright-Prosecution Linked Mediation System' for criminal cases of copyright law violations starting next month. This system aims to facilitate agreements between parties involved in criminal copyright infringement cases through dispute mediation. By resolving cases before prosecution, it can reduce exhaustive criminal litigation.

The Prosecutors' Office will select cases among copyright criminal cases that require the Korea Copyright Commission's specialized mediation and refer them for mediation. If mediation is successful, it will have the effect of complaint withdrawal or non-prosecution, similar to a settlement in court. The pilot will be conducted at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Intellectual Property Crime Division) and the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office (Patent Crime Focused Prosecutors' Office) starting next month. After evaluating and supplementing policy effects, the system is planned to be expanded nationwide to local prosecutors' offices from 2023. A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official stated, "During the pilot period, we aim for about 200 cases annually, and from 2023, around 1,000 cases per year."

From 2017 to 2019, an average of 10,807 copyright law violation crimes were reported to the prosecution annually, accounting for about 40% of all intellectual property infringement crimes. However, the prosecution rate was only 11% (in 2019), highlighting the need to introduce a specialized mediation system at the investigation stage. Currently, the Korea Copyright Commission operates a copyright dispute mediation system divided into general mediation upon party application and court-linked mediation assigned by the court. Kang Seok-won, Director of the Copyright Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "As an alternative dispute resolution system encompassing both civil and criminal litigation, its effectiveness will increase," adding, "We hope that parties involved in criminal copyright infringement cases can reduce unnecessary litigation burdens."

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