KOFIC, Korea Copyright Commission team up to protect <Late Autumn> in China

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NEWS & REPORTS

KOFIC, Korea Copyright Commission team up to protect <Late Autumn> in China

Jun 22, 2012

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The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and Korea Copyright Commission (KCC) recently paired to curtail the illegal online distribution of <Late Autumn> in China. Released in March 2012, the film quickly became the highest-grossing Korean feature ever shown in China.

Starring HYUN Bin and TANG Wei, <Late Autumn> quickly gathered over 910,000 admissions after its March release, netting KRW 4.5 billion (roughly USD $3.9 million). Its total box office take now stands at nearly KRW 11 billion (USD 9.5 million), which shot it far past the previous Korean record holder in China, SHIM Hyung-rae’s 2007 fantasy action film <D-War>.

Regarding television dramas, Korea’s big three broadcasting firms have seen the percent of their productions that are distributed illegally online drop from 91% in 2007 to 24.7% 2011 with support from KCC. However, until recently film copyright holders have lacked such support.

Now, aiming to monitor and block illegally distributed Korean films, KCC struck an agreement with the Beijing Copyright Center to utilize their Chinese publication rights monitoring system for the two months spanning March 29 to May 28. With this system they were able to monitor in real-time the ten websites central to illegal distribution in China

KOFIC will also utilize this monitoring system in the months following the upcoming Chinese release of the drama-based feature <Athena: Goddess of War>. Furthermore, KOFIC and KCC plan on working together in the future to expand support for the monitoring of illegally distributed Korean films both online and via DVD.