Minister Choi Hwi-young on 'FANOMENON' Trademark Controversy: "Government and Dedicated Corporation to Hold 50:50 Joint Ownership"

Direct Explanation on JYP’s Sole Trademark Filing Controversy
Participation by Big Four Agencies Limited to 30%
Overseas Trademark Rights to Be Transferred in the Same Manner

Choi Huieyoung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is speaking at the Press Conference of the Public Culture Exchange Committee on the '2027 Phenomenon Promotion Plan' held on the afternoon of July 27 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young announced on October 1st that the trademark rights for the K-pop festival “FANOMENON,” scheduled for December next year, will be jointly held by the government and a private corporation dedicated to organizing the event. The 50% share of the domestic trademark rights currently held by JYP Entertainment will be transferred to the dedicated corporation, which will be established later this month. Plans are also in place to restructure the overseas trademark rights, which have been filed in the United States and Japan, in the same manner.

Minister Choi stated on his social media account the same day, “Due to recent concerns raised by the media regarding FANOMENON, I am providing a more detailed explanation of the facts,” clarifying the government’s stance on the controversy over the trademark and event operation.

The FANOMENON trademark was solely filed by JYP on October 1st of last year, coinciding with the launch of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee (PCEC). Minister Choi explained, “Since the official name of the event was announced publicly at that time, it was necessary for PCEC to secure the trademark rights for FANOMENON as quickly as possible.”

He continued, “As the PCEC had just been launched, we did not yet have an office or even a proper administrative team in place. Therefore, in agreement with Co-Chairman Jinyoung Park, we decided that JYP would secure the rights on behalf of PCEC as a provisional measure to protect the brand’s rights in advance.”

Half of the domestic trademark rights were transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in April this year. Minister Choi stated, “We have established the principle that the FANOMENON trademark rights are to be jointly owned 50:50 by the government and the dedicated private corporation, with both parties using the rights by mutual agreement.”

The private dedicated corporation will be established primarily by the four major entertainment companies—HYBE, JYP, SM, and YG. A pre-merger notification was submitted to the Fair Trade Commission at the end of March, and Minister Choi explained that on August 17th, they were officially notified that the planned company was not in violation of the Fair Trade Act.

He stated, “Once the dedicated corporation is established within October, JYP will transfer its 50% share of the domestic FANOMENON trademark rights to the corporation. The remaining 50% has already been formally transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism through the procedure of changing the filing entity to joint ownership with the government in April.”

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwee Young Choi and Co-Chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee Jinyoung Park are conducting a press conference for the Popular Culture Exchange Committee on the '2027 Phenomenon Promotion Plan' at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Jongno-gu, on the afternoon of July 27. Yonhap News

The plan is to handle the overseas trademark rights in the same way. JYP filed for the FANOMENON trademark in the United States in November last year and in Japan in March this year. Minister Choi explained, “The establishment of the private dedicated corporation was delayed, and the government needed time for legal review regarding trademark filings overseas. There were also practical constraints, as the cost of filing abroad is much higher than domestically and the related budget had not been allocated in advance.”

He added, “Once the overseas application procedures are completed and all conditions are met, JYP Entertainment intends to transfer its share of the overseas trademark rights to the government and the dedicated corporation, following the same approach as for the domestic trademarks.”

Minister Choi emphasized that no government budget will be directly invested in the main events of FANOMENON. He stated, “The event will be fully financed with private funds.” Revenues will be generated through ticket sales, sponsorships, global broadcasting rights, and exhibition booth sales, and the dedicated corporation will bear the event expenses.

However, the government’s budget proposal for next year does include funds to attract foreign tourists through FANOMENON and to support the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the K-culture sector in related events.

Addressing concerns that the four major companies could monopolize event operations and profits, Minister Choi presented measures to safeguard the public interest. He stated, “No profits generated by the dedicated corporation will be distributed as dividends to shareholders; instead, they will be fully reinvested into future events.”

Limits will also be placed on the artist lineup. He said, “The share of artists from the Big Four agencies in the FANOMENON concerts held in Ilsan and Changdong will be capped at 30%. This ensures that talented artists from smaller domestic agencies can perform for audiences both in Korea and abroad.”

The PCEC is also pushing for measures to ensure the public interest in the event’s operation. Minister Choi said, “Each year, the PCEC will require public-interest guidelines for the practical operation plans of the FANOMENON event, and the dedicated corporation must comply with these guidelines in order to hold the event under the FANOMENON name.” These conditions will be reflected in the agreement to be signed between the Ministry and the corporation after its establishment this month.

Minister Choi stated that other companies besides the Big Four may also participate in the dedicated corporation. He said, “If necessary in the future, we will consider allowing additional companies to take part.”

Jinyoung Park, Co-Chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, is scheduled to testify before the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee during the Ministry’s audit on the 7th. Minister Choi said, “At that time, I will provide the public and the National Assembly with more detailed information.”

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