IU Accused of Music Plagiarism... Agency Announces Legal Action

Pink Shoes·Good Day·Celebrity and 6 More Songs
Idam Entertainment "Filed Complaint for False Rumor Dissemination"

Singer IU's agency announced a legal response after she was reported to the police on allegations of plagiarism of her hit songs.

According to the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul on the 10th, a complaint was filed on the 8th claiming that IU violated copyright law by plagiarizing another artist's music.

IU [Photo by Yonhap News]

The songs by IU that are the subject of the complaint include six tracks: "Pink Shoes," "Good Day," "BBIBBI," "Gayeowo," "Boo," and "Celebrity." IU participated in composing "Celebrity" and producing "BBIBBI."

The complaint, submitted by a general citizen named A who is not the original copyright holder, stated, "Many of these songs have identical melodies, rhythms, and chord progressions to the original works," and added, "Even to the general listener, 'Good Day' and 'Pink Shoes' have considerable similarities."

The law firm representing the complainant said, "There have been multiple allegations of plagiarism, but the accused (IU) has not provided any explanation and instead reported SNS posts raising such issues as copyright infringement, resulting in the deletion of those posts."

Typically, copyright infringement cases proceed only when the victim, i.e., the original copyright holder accused of plagiarism, files a complaint, as it is a crime prosecuted upon complaint.

Regarding the background of the complaint, the law firm cited Article 140, proviso and item 1 of the Copyright Act, stating, "In cases where a person infringes on copyright property rights for profit or habitually by reproduction, performance, public transmission, exhibition, distribution, rental, or creation of derivative works, this does not apply," arguing, "Therefore, even a complainant who is not the victim has the right to file this complaint."

In response, IU's agency, Edam Entertainment, stated, "While waiting for the progress of the investigation by authorities, we came across news today that IU was reported to the police on plagiarism charges. We have not yet been formally contacted by the investigative authorities, nor have we confirmed the contents of the complaint mentioned in the media," adding, "We are currently reviewing the matter."

The agency also said, "We have been aware for several months that posts alleging plagiarism based on false information and unfounded rumors have been distributed in some areas through online communities, SNS, and YouTube."

They continued, "Since the allegations were raised, we have collected evidence related to plagiarism suspicions, espionage rumors, sexual harassment and defamation, dissemination of false information, and invasion of privacy, and have submitted a complaint to the investigative authorities through the law firm Shinwon."

Previously, plagiarism allegations surrounding IU's songs had been raised on some online communities. The 2013 release "Pink Shoes" was pointed out to be similar to "Here’s Us" by the German band Nekta. At that time, IU's agency denied the claims, saying, "The two are completely different songs," and "The melody may sound similar, but the chord progressions are different."

Recently, as plagiarism controversies have erupted across the K-pop industry through platforms like YouTube, IU has been mentioned again.

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