[Editorial] A tragic offshoot of the unfair copyright deal

Copyright disputes over cultural content are turning into a matter of life-and-death. Cartoonist Lee Woo-young, the creator of the “Black Rubber Shoes” series, ended his life after a lengthy court battle over the popular comic series. The tragic tale calls for an urgent revision to the Copyrights Protection Act to sustain development of Korean cultural contents.

Lee was the creator of the cartoon series but nevertheless faced a lawsuit due to an unfair contract he had made with an agent 15 years ago. The “Black Rubber Shoes” was his debut series that was published from 1992.

The contract signed in 2008 unfairly gave the agent the rights to do any business from the original work. During an interview, Lee said he was approached by an agent who offered to add value to his work after the series were dropped out of a comic magazine in 2006.

When filing copyrights, the agent commanded a 36 percent stake of the rights, greater than the creator’s 27 percent. The arrangement hindered Lee’s further work. Lee in 2019 was sued for using his characters from “Black Rubber Shoes” in other series. After lamenting the pain of having his “hands and feet cut off,” Lee took his own life before the first trial results came out.

The controversy over injustice to the creator is not the first. Baek Hee-na, author of children’s picture book “Cloud Bread,” also was forced to surrender all rights to the publisher upon receiving 18.5 million won ($14,150) for her work published in 2004. The piece earned the value of 400 billion won through cartoon, musical, and character business. But Baek did not receive any compensation. She filed a suit to retrieve her rights, but she lost the case in 2020.

To sustain growth in the cultural industry, the creator’s rights and compensation must be guaranteed. Without just reward, creators cannot be motivated to go on with their work. Lee had stopped creative work from 2020. Baek was not able to come up with a new work for six years after the picture book.

Authors less knowledgeable about contract wording and weak negotiating power are at a disadvantage in setting terms with publishers. New authors are forced to sign unfair deals for their debuts. They are required to agree to “confidentiality” terms so as not to expose the unfair terms.

A systematic investigation into unfair practices in the creative community is needed to institutionalize protections for creators. There is a bill revising the Copyrights Protection Act pending in the legislature to enable creators to demand additional reward when their works generate greater revenue from preset levels. The sad stories of creators must end. We pray Lee rests in peace.