Police Launch Investigation into Korean Animation Studio for Labeling as 'Made in China'

The police are investigating whether the production company of the animation "Brave Fire Truck Ray Season 2" has violated copyright law.

Brave Fire Truck Ray. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the police on the 12th, the Seoul Mapo Police Station is investigating animation production company A on charges of copyright infringement, breach of trust, fraud, and obstruction of business. Company A is in charge of the Asian and European business for "Brave Fire Truck Ray Season 2," which is based on a domestically created fairy tale. Original author Shim Su-jin and the publisher "Yeondusae-sang" filed a complaint against the CEO of company A in April, and the complainants' investigation was completed last month.

It is known that during the broadcast of the animation last year on overseas online video services (OTT) and YouTube in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, Indonesia, and other countries, the original work was either omitted or incorrectly credited. Some online pages introducing the program even described it as "original content" of a Chinese animation company.

The author’s side claims that the omission of the original work credit was intentional by company A. Additionally, they assert that company A only settled profits or sales revenue for Season 1 up to the period from June to October 2016.

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