상명대학교 학내언론사 | 영자신문 | ISSUE 게시판읽기(The Confusing World of Funny Parodies and the Right of Publicity)

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제 7 호 The Confusing World of Funny Parodies and the Right of Publicity

작성일 2020-09-27
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Kicker: OPINION (COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY)

The Confusing World of Funny Parodies and the Right of Publicity

Intellectual Property Day Special Feature: Know & Protect It

By Sarah Chae, Editor-in-Chief

sarah3fran1@naver.com,

Advertisements, dramas, webtoons, novels, and YouTube video contents often gain sympathy and laughter through parodies. In the meantime, however, reckless use of parodies and unauthorized use of images are drawing criticism from consumers and original authors, too. Let's learn about the value of copyright and publishing rights so that you do not experience serious copyright problems while doing assignments, writing reports, or creating various contents after you graduate. Today among many rights, I will be talking about the Right of Publicity.

Cases of Unauthorized Use of Images and Parodies

Using familiar gags and memes are an easy way to make someone laugh. Plus, it is easier to just copy or imitate some popular idea rather than thinking of one on your own. This strategy is okay to use when you are joking around with your friends, but it is not okay when you are using this idea for commercial purposes and benefits. Let’s take a look at two cases which made this mistake.

CASE #1: Lotte Chilsung Beverage and the GANG Parody

Recently, ‘GANG’, a song of the singer Rain was a boom. If you have seen a video of the song you will know that the black cap, black clothes, the face expression, and the font in the picture below is almost the same as the image of ‘GANG’. Lotte Chilsung Beverage posted this picture of its product promotional post. However, the person in the post is not the singer himself, and the picture is a parody of the image of Rain in his GANG music video. Some consumers pointed out that doing a parody of GANG without Rain’s permission is not appropriate, and Lotte Chilsung Beverage posted an apology and deleted the post.

Some consumers pointed out that doing a parody of GANG without Rain’s permission is not appropriate, and Lotte Chilsung Beverage posted an apology and deleted the post with the image above.

CASE #2: The Soonpoong Clinic Parody

“I will make the story, who wants to write it?” Park Mi-seon’s lines in the drama “Soonpong Clinic” (2000) came up on the surface again and went viral. Many parodies came out on the internet. This was simply funny just until companies started using it for commercials. Comedian Park lashed out against those companies and said it does not seem right to draw a caricature of the scene in the drama and use it for commercial purposes.

Park Mi-seon lashes out against companies that used her image in the drama “Soonpong Clinic” (on the left) for commercial purposes(middle, right).

Of course, images familiar to the consumers will attract attention. However, these two cases were a problem because these companies did not get permission for using this concept or image. It was not a collaboration and celebrities in the original images were not those commercial models. The companies above just used it for free, and this means that those celebrities did not get paid for using their image. We can say that in these two cases the company violated the celebrity’s right of publicity.

What Is the Right of Publicity?

Also known as personality rights, the right of publicity is an intellectual property right. It is an individual’s (celebrity’s) right to control and profit from the commercial use of their name, trademark, or their identity. This right protects the famous person from unauthorized use of their nickname, voice, signature, likeness, photograph, etc. for commercial benefits. A majority of states in the United States recognize the right of publicity by statute or case law. In some states the right of publicity is applicable to celebrities, and in other states it also applies to any individual who has publicity value. In Korea, the value of publicity rights is recognized, but there is no written law about it. Currently, when publicity rights are violated the court relies on precedents.

What You Have to Do to Avoid Getting Caught Up in These Problems

Anyone can get caught up in these kind of intellectual property right problems. Parodies are so fun, but we need to remember. All copyrighted works must be used after getting permission. Especially, people making contents for commercial use or for your one-man media (like YouTube) have to be careful with using a parody. If you are looking for material or ideas with none of these problems to use in your works or assignments there is a website that can help you. The Korean Copyright Commission has made a website called Shared Yard (Gongyu Madang). They have works that any member of the society can use freely. There are donated/copyright expired/free use licensed works and free open works by public institutions and more. Fonts, music/sounds, videos/images, calligraphy work, and templets for reports and assignments are available to download, so give it a visit if you are interested.

Shared Yard (Gongyu Madang): https://gongu.copyright.or.kr/gongu/main/main.do

September 4, 2001 is the day when ‘Jikjisimcheyojeol: Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests 'Zen Teachings’ has been registered as a UNESCO world heritage. Now, every year, September 4^th is designated as Intellectual Property Day in Korea to celebrate this. The world is now a knowledge and intellectual based society. Good ideas and intellectual property like this are becoming a source of national competitiveness and this is creating new markets and values. Therefore, in order to make Korea a globally powerful place, it is important to create an environment where we can encourage the creation, protection, and utilization of intellectual property. In other words, if you want to spread your ideas and work without any problems, it is better for all of us to have awareness and have mature sense about intellectual property and copyrights.