'One-sided notice that entry copyright belongs to organizer violates copyright guidelines'

2024.09.08. The Fair Economy — The government has announced it will strengthen policy and institutional measures to protect creators' rights and prevent unfair contracts to avoid a second 'Black Rubber Shoes incident,' but it has been found that one in four creative contests held in the public sector included contract terms unfair to creators.

According to the 'Monitoring Results of Compliance with Creative Contest Guidelines' that Rep. Lee Gi-heon of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee received from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, out of 1,309 creative contests held in the public sector over the five years from 2020 to August 2024, 314 cases (24%) unilaterally notified that copyright in the entries belonged to the organizer.

By public sector, there were 43 cases at central government ministries, 224 at local governments, and 47 at public institutions. The violations by central government ministries included six creative contests hosted and organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which is the competent ministry for supporting creators.

In particular, 224 (34.5%) of the 650 creative contests hosted and organized by local governments explicitly stated that the copyright in the entries belonged to the organizer, making local governments the most inadequate in protecting creators' rights among the public sector.

Moreover, this is the result of monitoring conducted by the Korea Copyright Commission, a public institution under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, using a random sampling method, and a full investigation is expected to reveal more cases.

Under current law, the copyright in contest entries originally belongs to the entrant as the copyright holder, and unilaterally notifying that the copyright in the entries belongs to the organizer may constitute an unfair term under Article 6 of the Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions.

In addition, the Korea Copyright Commission, a public institution under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, publishes the 'Guidelines for Creative Contests' and annually sends official letters to central government agencies, local governments, and public institutions requesting compliance with the guidelines, and monitors the public sector's compliance on its own.

Rep. Lee Gi-heon criticized, saying, "The public sector, which should take the lead in protecting creators' copyright, is instead taking the lead in taking away creators' copyright," and urged, "Each head of an institution should provide copyright education to employees and strictly supervise through self-monitoring to ensure that violations of contest copyright guidelines do not recur."