'Black Rubber Shoes' Gi-yeong and Gi-cheol Return to Bereaved Families

Copyright Commission Character Nine Types Deregistered
"Confirming the Basic Principle That 'Creators Are Authors'"

The Lee Woo-young Writer Incident Countermeasure Committee expressed its welcome for the Korean Copyright Commission's decision to cancel the registration of the 'Geomeong Gomu-shin' characters. In a statement released on the 18th, they emphasized that it was "an important case reaffirming the fundamental principle of culture and arts that 'the creator is the author'." On the 12th, the Korean Copyright Commission, on its own authority, issued a cancellation of registration for nine 'Geomeong Gomu-shin' characters, including Ki-young and Ki-cheol. The decision was based on an application submitted by a party without registration authority. It was judged that Jang Jin-hyeok, CEO of Hyeongseol Publishing, who was registered as a co-author, did not have authorial qualification.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Woo-jin, a co-creator of 'Geomeong Gomu-shin,' stated, "There is still a long way to go, but this achievement was made possible with the help of many people from the cartoon industry, cultural arts sector, and politics." He added, "The lawsuit is not over yet, and there is much to do for the memorial project and prevention of recurrence promised when the countermeasure committee was formed. I will do my best for creators suffering under unfair contract practices." Kim Dong-hoon, vice president of the Korea Webtoon Writers Association, said, "It is regrettable that such a decision could not be made while writer Lee Woo-young was still with us. I feel very sorry."

The copyright of the 'Geomeong Gomu-shin' characters has long been a source of conflict between the publisher and the creators. Hyeongseol Publishing, based on the joint copyright registration of the main characters, developed various businesses while regarding related activities by the original creators (Lee Woo-young and Lee Woo-jin) as 'copyright infringement.' There was even a criminal complaint filed against the late Lee Woo-young's mother, who runs a rural experience farm, for showing the 'Geomeong Gomu-shin' animation to children, alleging copyright infringement.

The Lee Woo-young Writer Incident Countermeasure Committee stated, "Cases where business operators not involved in creation claim joint copyright continue to increase," and promised, "We will steadily continue activities to improve unfair contract practices in comics and webtoons, as well as the memorial project for writer Lee Woo-young."

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