Hey that’s mine! (Intellectual property rights, copyright infringement in Korea)
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008Copyright infringement.
Intellectual property rights. In a sentence? They don’t exist.
Koreans have historically done an exceptional job at innovation. Throughout the well-documented portion of Korea’s ancient history lies a common theme: Koreans can do it, and they can do it better than you. Let’s take a look at the first portion of that theme.
This train of thought can be likened to America’s “inalienable rights” creed. We feel that things like religion and self-expression are rights that no one entity owns - therefore we take personal ownership of our own religion and thoughts. I feel that it is one aspect that makes Americans so individualistic. This “nobody owns that right” thought can be applied to innovation for Koreans. They aren’t stealing an idea just for the same of hording. They borrow and idea to make it faster, cheaper, and more readily available. Think of it as file-sharing for thoughts 
Take designer clothes. There are huge corporations who make decent money on trademarked logos and mascots such as Disney. Disney-branded clothing is fairly expensive all things considered. I mean, it’s just a T-shirt. But it has the lovable cartoon character on it that has international recognition. Thus enters trademarking. Essentially, you can’t reproduce an image with Snow White unless you have explicit permission from Disney. After you obtain such permission, a portion of your profits go back to Disney for the right to produce such merchandise.
So what if you cut out the middleman? Make your own T-shirt and sell it for cheaper than the official stuff? Sounds like a financially sound plan, doesn’t it? Unfortunately it’s also unethical.
However, Korean clothing stores are flooded by such counterfeit goods. So much so that one has to wonder if the “real” stuff is anywhere to be found even if you wanted it. Let’s take a look at how things got like this.
Take music for example. In America, we download music legally from online vendors such as Apple’s iTunes. Some music is DRM-bound while others are DRM-free. DRM was created in the first place to curb piracy (remember Shawn Fanning and Napster?) but an unfortunate side effect from such anti-piracy measures was in fact more piracy from tech-savvy consumers while law-abiding consumers are treated like criminals when they want to transfer music to another location. This progression is even more exaggerated within the PC gaming community - so much so that publishers are inventing quite restrictive and mind-boggling ways to curb privacy - all with diminishing levels of success (secuROM anyone?).
Well just like anti-smoking campaigns, Americans are told that piracy is a crime and that self-regulation is needed to help keep the cost of production down (think of Piracy: It’s a Crime messages that play at the beginning of new DVDs). Most consumers are happy to follow legal routes of media consumption out of either 1) fear or 2) personal ethics.
In Korea, such campaigns don’t exist. In fact, such explicit instructions sort of don’t exist either - especially for the younger generation. Downloading “free” Korean music is insanely easy on Korean language blogs. When I asked a friend if they had a certain movie, she promptly downloaded the movie guilt-free and price-free. When I asked her if she knew that it was illegal in America do such things, she responded, “Why?”
It goes back to the inalienable rights. “It’s my right to listen to this song and watch this movie by any means necessary.” This might not be the explicit thought of those who do so, but either way it doesn’t sit well with me. Then again, I’m coming from a different angle. I’d wager that most haven’t even taken a close look at the ramifications of downloading music free-of-charge. But I wonder… are we just in a temporary flux when legal actions haven’t been set in place yet?
I think back to my grandmother telling me when cigarettes were first marketed no one was informed of any health risks involved. Is this the same type of scenario? Is Korea close behind America in terms of educating consumers but just not there yet? Such a campaign was enacted for Haansoft - the Korean Microsoft - makers of proprietary Korean word processing software. By the end of 2002, Haansoft was on the verge of bankruptcy due to rampant piracy from their new office suite. They innovated their business plan and adapted to their problem, but they were lucky. Illegal replication of their product almost drove them to the point where they couldn’t even sustain themselves let alone improve on the product that so many people were using and enjoying.
So it begs the question - do such anti-piracy measures exist in Korea? Is there an organization who enforces such copyright infringements? How do Korean companies like SM and JYPe pay their artists if their isn’t a system set in place for legal digital purchases? Do they recoup their losses from live performances alone? What about all the time and money spent in the studio? Maybe they look like rockstars but don’t get paid like rockstars? What about filmmakers? Do they get anything from movie theater sales? What do DVD sales look like in Korea? I would love to support my favorite artists and filmmakers as their art is a job. I mean, they gotta eat, too… but how would go about supporting them legally?
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in How Koreans Do It |
October 21st, 2008 at 7:43 am
There has actually been a few steps towards combating piracy. I can’t remember the name of it off the top of my head but a couple of months ago or so there was some kind of event with a couple of big Korean pop stars making an appearance. Don’t really know what went on there, but it was somethng to do with anti-piracy and I know that much XD
I probably shouldn’t broadcast it to the world but honestly? I’ve got no qualms at all about downloading anything and everything. Music, movies, programs, games - if I need to crack it, I’ll go do that too.
And then if I like it, if I say “hey, this is actually worth my money!” - then whether or not I have a downloaded or pirated or cracked version, I WILL go out and buy the real thing. A lot of my friends who download a lot are exactly the same.
I see downloading as a test run. You’re having a demo, with no limitations, no time limit. You’re seeing if the product is worth your money. And seriously? Often it’s not. And I don’t have the money to spare to go wasting it on stuff that isn’t worth it.
A lot of people often spout downloading as the reason why the sales for Korean music are falling. I call bullshit on this one. There’s So MANY MORE artists right now, companies just keep on churning out artist after artist after artist after artist. Can you support every single one of them? No. You have to make a choice about who you’re going to support. And the fact is that some of the most popular albums/artists STILL DO break that golden grail of 500,000+ sales. As far as I’m concerned, it’s too many artists, and not enough money growing on the trees in the fans’ backyards
I’m not sure about DVD sales in Korea, but I read something a few weeks ago, no idea how recent or accurate it is but it said somethnig about quite few people in Korea even owning a DVD player (which … well, I play all my DVDs on my laptop, quite a few people I know do too), and DVD sales being incredibly poor. Funnily enough 현우씨 posted a video around that time of himself on his way to his hometown for 추석, waiting for the bus, and across the road there was a DVD vendor and 현우씨 commented that the DVDs probably weren’t legit. I guess it’s a bit like Chinatown. Most of that stuff’s bootlegged too XD;
October 21st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hi Well - the experience we have is that we now do watch films/dramas online as they tend to be way too expensive to buy and so many of them! (We also have bought around 30 Films!) and we still do buy the occasional film.
As far as music goes - a lot of my Korean friends send me their favourite songs and that is how I get to know the artist - then I will buy the album.
The one exception is DBSK we will buy all their albums and DVDs, as we love these guys, however, they reportedly have the biggest fanclub in the world (800,000) and that is just the Korean fans if you add Japan and rest of world this reaches into the millions - but the latest album sales show only around 400,000 sales which reflects the download culture of Korea! (The album tracks were up for download before the album was released!! I only downloaded 2 then ordered both versions of the album - but had to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive) and I also know that the record company is constantly bringing out merchandise and for the average fan the choice can be as simple as - download the music for free but buy the photobook either way the record company makes money, however even the images from such books soon turn up in calendars sold in the markets ( I was in korea the day a particular photobook came out - the very next week i was able to buy a very nice calendar with same images in from a market!) so maybe the record companies sell the images and that way recover some of the money
I have noticed that artists still remain humble (I am not just talking DBSK here) and do not seem to flaunt their lifestyle like so many western counterparts whereas a lot of groups their age go down the drink and drugs route in the west.(A problem caused by too much money and an attitude of I am famous I can do what I want!)
So maybe because the profit earned by sales of music etc, the artists have to work harder to stay at the top and realise their behaviour plays a big part in them staying there! (I have seen footage of public appologies from top stars who have not behaved as they should) so the record companies do seem to have a big influence on not only the promotions but the way the artists live. (God forbid that any girlband should be seen as close to a member of a boyband - war seems to break for instance recent phone ad campaign led to very ugly scenes at a
October 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
(Not sure waht happened above i did not press submit it just did before i finished!)
I will continue here
(God forbid that any girlband should be seen as close to a member of a boyband - war seems to break for instance recent phone ad campaign led to very ugly scenes at a major Korean artists concert between what they call “anti fans̶
so strong is the loyalty of these fans, however not always reflected in the “put your money where your mouth is” sales of records!
Sorry for rambling on - I did not intend to put all of the above but somehow it submitted itself before i could delete!
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
It’s the same in China, people don’t even realise they are doing something illegal. You can even buy fake Coca-cola here. I’m sure everyone has heard about the fake milk scandal.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
a recent news article highlights a similar pattern in Italian shoe knockoffs http://koreabeat.com/?p=2371
November 5th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
It might be worth noting the situation with 소리바다 a little while ago.
November 30th, 2008 at 8:10 am
wow, I just ran across this video and thought I’d share. Any Final Fantasy fans out there? Outrage or appreciation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6m01X8Qzkw
(Ivy - Temptation of Sonata)