Ministry of Culture to Hold 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council to Discuss IP Protection Measures Abroad

Seven government ministries, seven public institutions and 19 private organizations to participate
Measures to combat illegal distribution of K-content and counterfeit K-pop goods to be discussed

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold the 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council at 2 p.m. on November 5 at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, to discuss measures to protect intellectual property rights overseas.

The ministry said the council, chaired by First Vice Minister Kim Youngsoo, will bring together seven government ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Broadcasting and Media Communications Commission, the Ministry of Intellectual Property, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; seven public institutions, including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency; and 19 private associations and organizations, including the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association.

The Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council was established to coordinate public-private efforts to respond to infringements of K-content intellectual property rights overseas. It was launched in October 2019 under the name Copyright Protection Council, led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and expanded its scope in 2020 to include industrial property rights related to the cultural content industry. At this meeting, government ministries and agencies and public institutions will share policies to protect intellectual property rights overseas and examples of responses to major infringements.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will present its policies for protecting K-content intellectual property rights overseas, while the Broadcasting and Media Communications Commission will discuss the current status of responses to the illegal distribution of content and ways to cooperate. The Ministry of Intellectual Property will present measures to strengthen the system for protecting Korean brands overseas, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will share examples of responses to intellectual property rights infringements overseas.

The Ministry of Justice will discuss strengthening international cooperation networks and expediting the handling of cases involving international cooperation, while the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will explain measures to respond to intellectual property rights infringements by leveraging free trade agreements (FTAs). The Korean National Police Agency will present an online copyright infringement response project that it operates jointly with Interpol. The Korea Copyright Protection Agency, the Game Rating and Administration Committee, and the Korean Film Council will then present examples of responses to major infringements.

Private associations and organizations will share difficulties they face in the field and call for policy improvements.

The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association will call for an expansion of the targets and scope of emergency takedowns of illegal content, while the Korea Animation Industry Association will urge the government to devise measures to prevent the illegal sharing of animation through social networking services (SNS). The Korea Broadcasting Association will call for a cooperation framework with paid broadcasting service providers to combat illegal IPTV, and the Korea Electronic Publishing Association will request measures to prevent the online illegal distribution of web novels and webtoons.

The Korea Popular Music Industry Association will call for support for a survey of counterfeit and imitation products related to K-pop in China and for follow-up measures.

Vice Minister Kim Youngsoo said, "As K-content gains popularity around the world, methods of intellectual property infringement are also becoming more sophisticated and advanced, making close public-private cooperation more important than ever. We will do our utmost to ensure that the voices of those working in the field, raised at this council, are actively reflected in policy so that the rights of our content creators are properly protected overseas."

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