South Korea Ranks 7th for 3 Consecutive Years in International Intellectual Property Index Copyright Category

"Our Copyright System Recognized for Excellence"
Overall Ranking 11th, 1st in System Efficiency Category

South Korea ranked 7th in the world for three consecutive years in the copyright category of the International Intellectual Property Index announced by the Global Innovation Policy Center under the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On the 6th, Jeong Hyang-mi, Director of the Copyright Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “This result confirms that the government’s continuous and diverse policy efforts to protect copyrights have been the foundation for the success of our content in the global market.” She added, “As we lead related international norms and systems, such as the establishment of the Copyright Crime Scientific Investigation Unit, the publication of the Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Copyright Guide, and the opening of the National Copyright Museum, we will faithfully fulfill our role as a global copyright powerhouse.”

The Global Innovation Policy Center has been evaluating the top fifty-five countries that account for 90% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually since 2013 to derive and announce the International Intellectual Property Index. South Korea ranked 11th overall, combining nine categories, following the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and others. In the copyright category, it ranked 7th for three consecutive years, and in the system efficiency category, it ranked 1st for two consecutive years.

The former achievement was possible due to excellent evaluations in detailed indicators such as exclusive rights, judicial preemptive remedies, online infringement response, and digital rights management-related legislation. A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official explained, “Our copyright system’s excellence was objectively recognized through copyright laws and systems suited to the digital technology environment, rights enforcement, and crackdowns on illegal use.”

In fact, the International Intellectual Property Index report described several government policies as exemplary cases. A representative example is the online infringement system introduced after the comprehensive revision of the Copyright Act in 2009. The protection system to maintain the copyright ecosystem, including warnings to repeat infringing accounts, removal of infringing content, and blocking access to infringing sites, has been implemented step-by-step and systematically. The Ministry’s ‘K-Content Illegal Distribution Eradication Measures’ prepared in July last year and the expansion of international investigative cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies were also mentioned as significant developments.

The latter achievement was also greatly influenced by performance in terms of copyright. The detailed evaluation indicators in this area include inter-agency coordination and cooperation for intellectual property protection, stakeholder consultations in the intellectual property policy-making process, education and publicity, and analysis of the economic contribution of the intellectual property industry. The Global Innovation Policy Center evaluated, “South Korea has continuously implemented policies that educate and promote the fundamental importance of copyright protection, establishing itself as a model country that has driven economic revival through copyright policies in Asia and emerging countries worldwide.”

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