[Voices of the MZ Generation Column] Copyright Fees Unpaid Even to Writer Hangang and the Issue of Copyrights

Works Featured in Textbooks for Over 20 Years, Yet No Compensation
Urgent Need for Legal and Systematic Protection of Creators

Jiwool Jeong, Cultural Critic and Lawyer

Writer Hangang has sparked controversy after it was revealed that he had not received a single copyright fee for over 20 years for works included in textbooks. According to copyright law, works can be included in textbooks without the copyright holder's permission. However, there is a regulation that compensation must be paid, but payment was omitted because the author could not be contacted. It is said that the undistributed copyright fees accumulated over the past 10 years exceed 25 billion won.

Upon hearing this news, I also checked to see if any of my writings had been included in textbooks just in case. Although I recently received notice that my work would be included in this year's textbooks, I had never been contacted before. When I actually looked it up, I found that my writings had been included in textbooks seven times so far. So, I applied to the Korea Literature and Arts Copyright Association (Munjeohyeop) and claimed all the unpaid copyright fees, and recently received full compensation including interest for the overdue fees.

Of course, the amount of copyright fees I received this way was not very large. Nevertheless, the fact that my writing was included in textbooks is meaningful. Few writers would not be happy to know that their work has contributed even a little to a child's life. Writers are professionals who sometimes write driven by such fulfillment rather than financial reward.

However, until now, even if textbook publishers notified Munjeohyeop about the inclusion of works and paid compensation, it was not easy for Munjeohyeop to contact the authors. Recently, awareness of copyright has greatly changed, and publishers now inform authors at the stage of including works in textbooks and pay proper copyright fees. Writers feel deeply respected through this process and gain considerable strength to continue writing.

Not only the textbook issue but also the protection of creators' copyrights in our society has existed in various forms. It is widely known that creators' rights were not sufficiently protected in cases like ‘Gureumbbang’ and ‘Geomjeong Gomu-shin’. For example, ‘Gureumbbang’ generated sales worth hundreds of billions of won in secondary markets, but the author received only about ten million won in royalties due to a ‘work-for-hire contract’ made with the publisher during their unknown days. There have also been many cases where works submitted to contests were exploited by organizers or judges despite being rejected.

Famous creators often have an advantage over companies in copyright issues, but the vast majority of unknown or ordinary creators are often in a subordinate position in relation to companies. Especially, unknown writers often feel grateful just to have their works released to the world and do not even think about protecting their rights. Ultimately, systematic protection awareness at the government and legal levels for creators is urgently needed.

These days, when I give special lectures at high schools and other places, I feel that students' interest in copyright is very high. This is probably because an era has arrived where everyone from students to adults is a creator. The moment anyone posts writing or photos on social networking services (SNS), they can become copyright holders. Also, when we consume content daily, we can always infringe someone’s copyright. This is why we must deeply consider copyright as much as any other field of rights.

Jung Ji-woo, Cultural Critic & Lawyer