"Opposition to the Box Office Compensation Act" vs "Fair Compensation": Platform and Creative Groups Disagree

Conflict Over Copyright Law Amendment Legislation
Platform Solidarity Statement: "Unilateral Representation of Interests"
Three Organizations Including Korean Film Directors Guild Oppose

The Directors Guild of Korea (DGK), the Scenario Writers Guild of Korea (SGK), and the Korea Independent PD Association (hereinafter referred to as the three video creator organizations) rebutted the previous day's joint statement by the Platform Solidarity opposing the legislative push for additional compensation rights for creators under the Copyright Act.

On the 26th, the Korea Broadcasting Association, Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Association, Korea IPTV Broadcasting Association, Korea Internet Corporations Association, and Korea OTT Council, along with the directors (hereinafter Platform Solidarity), opposed the amendment to the Copyright Act that would grant additional compensation rights to creators.

[Photo by Korean Film Directors Guild (DGK)]

Since last year, four partial amendment bills to the Copyright Act introducing additional compensation rights have been proposed. Additional compensation rights refer to the right of video creators to request extra compensation after transferring intellectual property (IP) rights.

The amendment to the Copyright Act granting video creators compensation rights for the use of their works was submitted to the bill review subcommittee 10 months after its proposal. However, it has been pending without even starting deliberations, following the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's request to wait for the Copyright Commission's impact assessment study.

Platform Solidarity stated in their statement the previous day, "We oppose hasty legislative efforts without careful review and social consensus."

They further argued, "The amendment violates the purpose of the special provisions in the Copyright Act designed to facilitate the smooth use of video works and the recovery of investment costs, infringes the constitutional principle of prohibition of broad delegation of legislative power, and may violate the principle of private autonomy."

They criticized, "Directors and screenwriters are paid stable directing and writing fees regardless of losses incurred from the content, with the media industry bearing all losses. The amendment only represents one-sided interests targeting limited cases where profits occur, without considering the current structure."

Platform Solidarity also insisted, "Efforts for social consensus based on careful review should be prioritized."

The following day, on the 27th, the three video creator organizations issued a statement rebutting, saying, "The industry distorted reality to block creators' compensation."

These organizations emphasized, "It has been several years since issues regarding creators' compensation structures began to be raised within the industry. The passage of the amendment is a necessary condition to discuss concrete win-win models for creators' compensation."

The Independent PD Association questioned, "Is it stable directing fees when veterans with over 20 years of experience suffer from long working hours averaging 60 hours per week and receive directing fees barely reaching 10,000 won per hour?"

[Photo by Pixabay]

DGK also responded, "Platform companies are in a position to only take the risk of selecting and providing completed works, yet they distort the situation by pretending to bear production losses. They deliberately misrepresent the reality of creators who invest unlimited time and effort, risking not only the failure of projects planned over several years but also the risk of their careers being cut off depending on box office results."

SGK pointed out, "It is common sense shared by all civilized countries worldwide that the author of a video work has the right to receive proportional compensation for the use of their work in the market. Platform Solidarity opposes this common sense because of their operational deficits, but this is an issue of individual companies' competitiveness, not a structural problem of the OTT industry."

They added, "Once the bill is implemented, it is clear that the largest legitimate compensation will be paid by global platforms such as Netflix, effectively allowing them to fertilize their own fields with others' money." They urged, "We call for the prompt passage of the fair compensation bill for video works, exercising parental kindness and wisdom."

DGK urged that if Platform Solidarity truly aims to be a healthy participant in the video industry and promote its sustainable development, they should recognize creators as rightful partners and actively cooperate from now on to establish a compensation collection model after the bill's passage.

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