The court has accepted the submission of a research service report by the Korea Copyright Commission, which was requested by online video service providers such as Wave & Middot; Teabing & Watcha. acknowledged the need for data review
The 4th hearing of the administrative lawsuit between the three OTT companies and the Ministry of Culture was held on the 18th. The new judge of the Seoul Administrative Court, which has been replaced by regular court personnel, said on the same day that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourisms Korea Music Copyright Association ‘ Issues such as legality and legitimacy of the approval process and the history of the 1st to 3rd pleadings were reviewed.
In addition, in January of this year, the three OTT companies commissioned the copyright ‘study of overseas market conditions related to the collection of overseas music copyright fees’ The report was accepted with the intent that it was necessary to examine it closely. OTT is taking into account the possibility that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism did not properly review overseas cases at the time of approval of the collection regulations.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism countered that the service order was not directly related to the approval of the collection regulations and was a service to understand the latest industry trends.
The court recommended that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism be submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stating that research service data related to overseas music copyright trust organizations can be viewed as data that can be used as reference for judgment and there is no reason not to accept the request.
When the copyright research service report is submitted, the court, OTT, and the Ministry of Culture will review the document and submit their own opinions. The next hearing date is set for June 10.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism dismissed the conclusion as groundless, saying that the decision was made after thorough review regarding the point of review of overseas cases raised by OTT.
An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained that the copyright research service is a more concrete example of the overseas copyright rates confirmed during the deliberation process of the amendment to the collection regulations.
Meanwhile, the three OTT companies filed an administrative lawsuit in February last year, arguing that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s disposition to approve the music copyright fee collection rules was not legal due to issues such as abuse of discretion. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism previously approved the collection regulations to apply an annual coefficient starting at 1.5% in 2021 and applying a usage rate approaching 2% in 2026.
