Court Dismisses Injunction to Ban Screening of 'Wangsanaam' Over Plagiarism Allegations: "Similarity Difficult to Recognize"

Court: "Themes and Character Settings Are Different"

Director Jang Hangjun's film The King and the Man Who Lives ("Wangsana-mnam") faced a request to halt its screening due to allegations of plagiarizing the script of the drama "Eom Heungdo." However, the court rejected this request.

According to the Yonhap News Agency on the 23rd, the 21st Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Myeonghee) dismissed the injunction application filed by the family of the "Eom Heungdo" scriptwriter to prohibit the screening of The King and the Man Who Lives. The application had been made against the film's co-production companies, Onda Works and B.A. Entertainment Co., Ltd., as well as the distributor Showbox.

Movie still from The King and the Man Who Lives. Showbox

As a result, the production companies will not face any restrictions on showing the film on airplanes or ships, distributing it through online video services (OTT), DVDs, or exporting it overseas.

The court stated, "The family's script adopts 'Confucian narrative of loyalty' as its core emotional theme, and within the script, Eom Heungdo consistently displays loyal and devoted behavior toward King Danjong from beginning to end." It added, "In contrast, the main theme of The King and the Man Who Lives is the mutual transformation and personal growth that take place as Danjong, Eom Heungdo, and the villagers interact, and the subject, story, structure, and character settings are completely different between the two works."

The court continued, "It is true that there are some similarities between the two works, as both are based on historical facts and real people as protagonists. However, the relationship between Danjong and Eom Heungdo, the overall storyline, and the primary themes differ, and the family's script contains unique and distinct characteristics of its own. Therefore, it is difficult to acknowledge any substantial similarity."

Previously, there had been claims that the film The King and the Man Who Lives had plagiarized the script of the drama Eom Heungdo, which aired in the 2000s.

Shin Ilsu, lead attorney at the law firm Pyeongjeong and the representative for the production companies of The King and the Man Who Lives, stated, "The court made an obvious decision that clearly confirmed the independent creative process of the film and the essential differences between the two works." The King and the Man Who Lives has recorded a cumulative audience of about 16.88 million people, making it the second most successful domestic release in Korean box office history after Roaring Currents (released in 2014, with approximately 17.61 million viewers).

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