Better protection proposed for creators following death of cartoon artist

Following the news of a local cartoonist taking his life earlier this month due to an ongoing copyright battle with his publisher, the Korean government on Wednesday vowed to better protect creators and their ...

Animation ″Black Rubber Shoes″ [SAEHAN]

Following the news of a local cartoonist taking his life earlier this month due to an ongoing copyright battle with his publisher, the Korean government on Wednesday vowed to better protect creators and their rights to their work.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism laid out plans to include adaptation rights in more detail in standard cartoon contracts and to re-check all 82 types of standard contracts produced by the ministry to make improvements to clauses that are potentially disadvantageous to creators.

Plans to expand copyright education to cartoon and webtoon creators have been also introduced, in which the ministry will expand the education opportunities to 500 creators in 2023, up from 80 last year. Plans have also been proposed to provide guides for creators to help simplify copyright contracts.

The Content Fair Cooperation Center operated by the Korea Creative Content Agency, which was designed to help creators resolve conflicts caused by unfair contracts, will also be expanded through the construction of labor and law consulting systems for creators.

Cartoonist Lee Woo-young [JOONGANG ILBO]

Lee Woo-young, the cartoonist famed for the “Black Rubber Shoes” series, took his own life on March 11. While there were no notes or messages found, the cartoonist was known to have been “struggling due to copyright suit issues,” according to the family.

“With the lawsuit dragging on, Lee’s self-esteem also hit rock bottom. Lee, who would collapse after a sip of alcohol, soon turned into a heavy drinker,” Lee’s wife said at Lee’s funeral on March 12.

“I think he felt betrayed and was resentful. He would sometimes even say, ‘Will [the unfair treatment] surface only when someone dies of it?’"

Lee was sued by Hyungseul Publishing's head, surnamed Jang, in 2019. Jang, with whom Lee collaborated in 2008 to produce the animation version of “Black Rubber Shoes,” claimed that Lee’s usage of “Black Rubber Shoes” characters without the permission of Jang was against the contract and asked Lee for 100 million won ($76,700) in compensation.

“'Black Rubber Shoes’ is all I have, it’s my life. […] Please help me retrieve my rights as a creator,” Lee wrote in the final statement sent to the court, two days before his passing.

Animation ″Black Rubber Shoes″ [SAEHAN]

Jang’s lawsuit was based on three business contracts signed with Lee in 2007 and 2008, which wrote “all business rights to ‘Black Rubber Shoes’ are assigned to Jang” and “Jang will have priorities when publishing books.”

With Jang acquiring an additional 36 percent share from writer Lee Young-il, also known by the pen name Doremi, on top of the existing 17 percent, Jang had 53 percent ownership of nine of the characters from “Black Rubber Shoes.”

“This is when Jang started acting as if he was the creator of ‘Black Rubber Shoes,’” Lee Woo-young had written in an unreleased cartoon draft provided by his family, claiming that he himself had only received 0.5 percent of the total profits derived from the animation since 2015.

“[Lee had] signed a contract that hands over the rights to create adaptation works,” said lawyer Jang Chul-young to the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily. “Many [creators] write such contracts even to this date; they have no other choice but to sign contracts [such as this] if they have no power to negotiate.”

“You’re lucky if you [as the creator] have any copyrights [on the creator’s work],” said an anonymous webtoon artist to the JoongAng Ilbo. The artist added that there are contracts with worse conditions, where the publisher gives the creator an upfront payment with no future profit guarantees.

Korea's Fair Trade Commission is also planning investigations to check for further unfair copyright contracts according to local media on Wednesday.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]