Naver Webtoon Receives Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award for Combating Illegal Distribution of Webtoons

"Supporting Efforts to Eradicate Illegal Webtoon Sites"

Naver Webtoon received the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Commendation at the 1st Korea Copyright Protection Awards and Copyright Development Merit Ceremony in 2024 on the 27th for its response to illegal distribution of webtoons.

Since the early days of its service, Naver Webtoon has implemented technical measures to restrict illegal copying by introducing a document security solution (DRM) to protect content.

Since 2017, it has applied its self-developed technology called 'ToonRadar' to the service, which tracks and blocks initial illegal leak sources, delaying and blocking illegal distribution of webtoons domestically and internationally, and cooperating in the arrest of illegal distributors. According to Naver Webtoon's 2023 internal statistics, the value of intellectual property protected by ToonRadar is estimated at over 200 million USD annually.

In addition, it has strengthened pre- and post-response measures through monitoring, reporting, and legal actions. Last year, for the first time in the industry, it took the initiative to bear all costs on behalf of creators and proceeded with the issuance of subpoenas through U.S. courts. As a result, about 150 illegal webtoon sites ceased their activities.

This year, through three subpoena actions, it achieved the suspension of activities of about 70 overseas illegal webtoon sites. According to traffic statistics site 'SimilarWeb,' the annual user visit traffic of the 70 illegal webtoon sites affected by this subpoena action exceeds 1.3 billion visits.

In October, it proactively filed a lawsuit claiming damages worth a total of 1 billion KRW against operators of illegal webtoon and web novel sites, expressing a strong stance of zero tolerance toward copyright infringement.

Kim Gyu-nam, Vice President (CRO) of Naver Webtoon, said in his award acceptance speech, "The suspension of illegal site activities not only protects Naver Webtoon works but also protects the entire industry," and added, "We will continue to find and do our best in what the platform can do to protect copyrights."