Cyworld’s ‘mini hompy’ ripped off abroad

Chinese and Japanese imitations of Cyworld, the most popular Korean service that provides users with their personal Web site ― known here as a “mini hompy” ― have been popping up online. Cyworld, which began operation in 2001, swept Korean Internet users away with its powerful tools. One tool enables users to upload personal digital photos onto a user’s personal Web site, a feature distinguishing it from competing services offered by Daum, Naver and Freechal. Due to this feature, Cyworld has been a contributing factor in the recent strong sales of digital cameras. The decoration of a room or landscape, known as a “mini room,” which is featured on the front of a mini hompy, created a follow-on commercial trend: Many Cyworld users bought virtual currency, in the form of acorns, to decorate their hompy’s mini room. Sales of acorns generated profits, as did purchases of music installed on mini hompies. As Cyworld’s following increased, SK Communications took over the company last year. It now has more than 10 million subscribers, including popular celebrities and politicians such as Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye. But recently, according to Korean Internet surfers, several Chinese Web sites, including sensky.com, etang.com and hawa.cn have been copying Cyworld’s concepts. More copycats ― minihp.minihom.jp, which opened last week in Japan ― followed. “The Japanese sites, in particular, have illegally copied all of the Cyworld menus, including personal diaries and memos from personally linked friends,” said Kwon Chang-hyun of Cyworld. “As our company plans on expanding Cyworld to overseas markets, we plan on taking legal action.” The exact action is as yet undecided. by Yoon Chang-hee, Lee Ho-jeong