Manga and Manhwa Pirates Face Increased Maximum Prison Sentences in Korea As New Copyright Law Amendment Passes National Assembly

The Korea Herald reports that South Korea’s National Assembly passed a series of amendments on January 29 targeted at curbing copyright infringement and ticket scalping. The amendments will now head to President Lee Jae Myung, who will examine them before promulgating/vetoing within 15 days of receipt. If promulgated, the copyright infringement amendment will go into effect in the latter half of the year. Myung previously ran for president on a platform of clamping down on piracy, specifically referencing webtoon piracy.

For intentional or repeated copyright infringement, courts could award punitive damages of up to five times actual damages, maximum prison sentences would shift from five years to seven, and maximum fines would increase from 50 million won to 100 million ($34k to $68). There is also now an explicit provision against knowingly providing links to infringing content, following a Supreme Court decision in 2021. This covers commercial website operators and social media users.

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South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism would also gain new powers to block access for Koreans to overseas piracy websites, where previously only the Korea Communications Standards Commission and courts could. Similar site-blocking efforts are underway in the U.S., with recent bills headed by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Darrell Issa.

The strengthening of Korea’s anti-piracy laws comes as the Supreme Court in Korea slapped down an appeal by the operator of NooNooTV, one of Korea’s most notorious pirates. Their 4.5-year sentence has therefore been upheld. It also follows major waves in international piracy; Korea’s P.CoK issued Cease and Desist letters to moderators involved with Bato‘s Discord and subreddit, and Japanese anti-piracy coalition CODA revealed that Bato’s operator has since been arrested and released on bail. CODA also shared that this was a joint operation between Japan and China, with the operator confessing to their crimes and a formal indictment expected in due course.

Source: The Korea Herald, ZDNET Korea, Kim & Chang
© DUBU(REDICE STUDIO), Chugong, h-goon 2018 / D&C MEDIA

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