Court Dismisses Injunction to Ban YouTube Broadcast of The Tam Sa Contract Disclosure

YouTube Video Ban, Injunction Request Dismissed

The Seoul Northern District Court Civil Agreement Division 1 (Presiding Judge Oh Kwon-cheol) announced on the 27th that it dismissed the provisional injunction request filed by The Tam Sa and Mr. Ji Mo, the 'Whistleblower X,' who sought to ban the broadcast of YouTube videos that disclosed their service contract and other documents.

The YouTube channels 'Kim Doo-il TV' and 'Kim Yong-min TV' uploaded 39 videos on YouTube from the 1st of last month to the 8th of this month, revealing the service contract between The Tam Sa and Mr. Ji, as well as Mr. Ji's criminal record. Kim Doo-il TV and others stated that The Tam Sa had signed a service contract to lend 200 million won for investigative reporting expenses under the condition of receiving Mr. Ji's investigative content and to pay 10 million won monthly. They also mentioned Mr. Ji's past convictions for fraud, embezzlement, and breach of trust.

The Tam Sa and Mr. Ji filed a provisional injunction against Kim Doo-il TV and others, requesting the prohibition of broadcasting, transmission, and posting of the 39 videos, claiming that the disclosure of trade secrets hindered their investigative activities and caused business losses and defamation damages.

The court ruled that the main purpose or motive of these videos is likely for the public interest. The court noted that a significant portion of The Tam Sa's operating expenses comes from subscribers and citizen donations, and judged that "(The Tam Sa's) operational matters may, depending on the case, be related to the proper use of donations and thus fall within the scope of public interest."

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