Discussion on Protecting K-Content... Naver: "Protecting 300 Billion Won in Copyrights with 'ToonRadar'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] As measures to protect the intellectual property (IP) rights of Hallyu content are being discussed, Naver Webtoon’s 'ToonRadar' is gaining attention. It has been found to have a copyright protection effect worth up to 300 billion KRW through advanced illegal distribution blocking technology.

According to the industry on the 18th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held the ‘6th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council’ on the 16th to share the current status of intellectual property infringement of Hallyu content overseas and discuss countermeasures.

The ‘Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council’ is a public-private policy consultative body concerning the overall protection of Hallyu content’s intellectual property overseas. It includes six government ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Justice, Korean Intellectual Property Office, and National Police Agency, along with eight public institutions and 18 rights-holder organizations.

At this meeting, strengthening international cooperative investigations against overseas intellectual property infringement was placed on the agenda. They shared best practices and systems of related ministries (agencies) for efficient cooperative investigations and reviewed the current status of private sector infringement monitoring and the introduction of illegal reproduction prevention technologies.

Naver Webtoon shared a case regarding the ‘Response Status to Illegal Webtoon Distribution.’ It explained that when the copyright protection effect of the illegal webtoon distribution blocking technology 'ToonRadar' is converted into economic value, it amounts to an annual maximum of 200 to 300 billion KRW.

Naver Webtoon independently researched and developed the ‘ToonRadar’ system, a technology that inserts invisible user identification information into webtoon images to identify and block the initial illegal leaker. It has been used since July 2017 to track illegal webtoon copies domestically and internationally.

According to Naver Webtoon, from July 2017 when ToonRadar was first applied until August 2022, the upload suspension and takedown rate 1 of domestic primary illegal sites where webtoons were first illegally shared reached 94%. Of the 31 domestic primary illegal sites, 29 were suspended or taken down. For overseas sites, 36 out of 67 primary illegal sites were suspended or taken down.

One of ToonRadar’s representative achievements is delaying the time it takes for the latest paid episodes posted on official platforms to appear on illegal sharing sites. Naver Webtoon strengthened technical responses by predicting in advance and blocking accounts so that illegal site operators cannot purchase ‘preview’ episodes.

As a result, for domestic webtoons, while illegal sharing occurred in less than a day after a work was posted at the early stage of ToonRadar’s introduction, the cycle has now lengthened to an average of 3 to 4 weeks. For overseas sites, the upload timing to illegal webtoon sharing sites has been delayed by up to 2 weeks.

Additionally, ToonRadar monitors illegal webtoon uploads in real time and operates a new illegal site detection system to identify newly created illegal sites.

Furthermore, Naver Webtoon has formed partnerships with several domestic and international specialized companies focused on keyword blocking and monitoring illegal content distribution cases, and internally has established a dedicated social media monitoring team, continuously strengthening its own monitoring and responding to copyright infringement reports.

Seo Choong-hyun, head of Naver Webtoon’s Copyright Protection Technology Team, said, “The most efficient technical strategy a webtoon platform can take is to prevent primary illegal sites from functioning by swiftly and continuously blocking illegal leak accounts and to enhance predictive blocking technology for risky accounts to prevent illegal sharing in advance. We will continue to strengthen technical responses to prevent damage proactively rather than reactively.”