NunuTV Operator Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison, 700 Million Won Forfeited

"Systematic Infringement of Property Rights...
The Nature of the Crime Is Particularly Serious"

The operator of the copyright-infringing website 'NunuTV' has been sentenced to prison.

On May 26, the Daejeon District Court sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted on charges of violating the Copyright Act, to three years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 700 million won. Judge Ko Youngsik of the Criminal Division 9 stated, "The defendant systematically infringed property rights for profit, such as obtaining advertising revenue, over a long period of time, which makes the nature of the crime particularly serious." He further explained, "The sentence was determined by considering the fact that the defendant infringed on the copyright holders' ability to generate revenue, undermined creative motivation and hindered cultural development, admitted wrongdoing, and had a prior criminal record."

NunuTV was a website that illegally posted K-content to promote gambling sites. Its impact was significant, leading to the proliferation of numerous similar sites. Mr. A operated the site by changing domains and hosting servers in overseas locations such as the Dominican Republic and Paraguay. After NunuTV was shut down in April 2003, he created other sites such as TVWiki and OKToon, expanding his criminal activities to domestic webtoons.

On July 2003, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the 'Measures to Eradicate Illegal Distribution of K-Content' and, after one year and four months, apprehended Mr. A in December of last year. The authorities seized the domains of each site and redirected access routes to a 'seizure notice page' to prevent the unauthorized distribution and transmission of copyrighted works.

The investigation involved the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, National Intelligence Service, the Korean office of the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, INTERPOL, and local investigative agencies overseas. The Korea Copyright Protection Agency also contributed by securing and analyzing digital evidence.