Foreign porn companies refile suit against Korean netizens

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- A group of U.S. and Japanese porn companies will
refile a lawsuit from next week against South Korean uploaders, their legal
representative here said Friday, accusing the country of holding a double
standard in investigating copyright violations of local and foreign material.

Some 50 foreign firms sued 10,000 Korean Internet users in July for uploading
their adult materials onto local Web sites, but prosecutors limited their
investigation to those confirmed to have uploaded content more than three times.
Only 10 were punished.
The porn companies said they will refile with a list of 65,000 netizens who fit
Seoul's investigation criteria, the agency said.
The companies stepped up their protest after South Korean prosecutors launched a
probe into the digital theft of local blockbuster "Haeundae," one of this year's
biggest hits, breaking the 10 million viewer mark last month. They say the
applied standards and the intensity of the prosecution's investigation into
copied foreign porn material were vastly different from those in the "Haeundae"
piracy case.
"We believe that (the prosecution) should not be discriminatory in applying
copyright laws," an official at the legal firm said. "Illegal copying and
distribution run rampant in South Korea because it is one of the world's most
wired countries. We decided to take legal action to minimize our past business
losses and to protect anticipated future profits."
The firm warned that the porn companies will consider taking their case to the
U.S. government should they judge Seoul's investigation to be discriminatory.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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