Ministry of Culture Introduces Rapid Copyright Processing Procedure... 'Blocking Illegal Copies Twice as Fast'

Full Improvement of Copyright Infringement Response from the 29th
Administrative Sanction Period Drastically Reduced from 2 Weeks to 1 Week

A scene from the final episode of the drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo." Throughout the broadcast, Woo Young-woo suffered significant damage due to illegal piracy sharing on overseas online sites. Photo by ENA

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The government is introducing a rapid administrative disposition procedure to eradicate content copyright infringement.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that, in cooperation with the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, it will shorten the period required for administrative dispositions such as deletion and suspension of transmission of online illegal reproductions from two weeks to one week to respond swiftly to copyright infringement and support the global spread of Hallyu (K)-content.

When illegal reproductions are distributed online, copyright holders can request online service providers to delete them or file civil and criminal lawsuits against the replicators and transmitters, but this process has the disadvantage of taking a long time. To prevent damage caused by the rapidly spreading illegal reproductions, the Protection Agency independently monitors illegal reproduction distribution and, according to copyright law, recommends deletion of illegal reproductions to online service providers after review by the Copyright Protection Deliberation Committee, and issues warnings and corrective measures to replicators and transmitters.

However, as the speed of sharing illegal reproductions of movies, dramas, webtoons, and other content online has recently accelerated compared to before, causing serious damage to copyright holders, there have been calls for even faster responses to online illegal reproductions.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Protection Agency have revised the regulations of the Copyright Protection Deliberation Committee so that, starting from the 29th, the review period by committee members for illegal reproductions detected through the Protection Agency’s own monitoring will be shortened, reducing the time required for corrective measures from the current two weeks to one week.

The Copyright Protection Deliberation Committee holds corrective recommendation deliberations eight times a week. Last year, it recommended corrective measures such as deletion and warnings for a total of 664,400 illegal reproductions and account suspensions, striving to protect copyrights without gaps.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is strengthening international cooperation in the field of copyright protection, including collaboration with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), as part of its national agenda to promote the spread of K-content, and is conducting investigations into copyright infringement sites jointly with the National Police Agency. It is also building a comprehensive copyright infringement response system that links monitoring with deliberation and analysis of illegal reproductions.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, “The introduction of a rapid processing procedure for illegal content reproductions will be an important driving force in protecting the copyrights of K-content creators and promoting the appeal of content worldwide.”

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