Comparative Research on Copyright Protection of Reality Television Programs in China and Korea

Abstract

ABSTRACT Comparative Research on Copyright Protection of Reality Television Programs in China and Korea Qi Xin College of law, law The Graduate School Seoul National University

With the fast development of Television broadcast and Internet technologies, there are various ways provided for people to enjoy interesting TV programs. Nowadays, it shows an increasing demand of people for high-quality TV shows. Both China and Korea governments are encouraging and promoting culture and entertainment industries by setting political strategies and legislation.

On one hand, highly developed contents industry can bring a thriving and happy mental life for people and make a country identical and reputable in international societies. On the other hand, compared to manufacture industry, with a comparatively low invest, a highly developed contents industry brings out huge monetary benefits for one country in a very environmental-friendly way. Its said by a research institute that contents industry is one of the most promising industry in near future days.

As a country which has a relatively strong and developed contents industry, Korea manufactures and exports to other countries movies, dramas and TV programs every year. The legislators and policy makers paid attention to and made related laws and policies to support entertainment industry of Korea. The main laws are as below: Copyright Law(저작권법)

Contents Industry Promotion Law(콘텐츠산업 진흥법)

Culture Industry Promotion Basic Law(문화산업진흥 기본법) and so on.

China is really a huge market for TV broadcasting operators with a large number of population and a wide land. But in the aspect of protection of TV programs, the law is vague and uncertain. Copyright Law or Unfair Competition Law is the main tool for TV program producers to seek protection for their works.

In recent years, especially from 2013, china TV broadcasting stations begin to buy the license of copyright of Korean TV programs. In 2014, Chinese TV stations imported nearly 70 foreign TV shows, among which Korean TV shows charge 10, nearly 15% of the total amount. <Running man><Im a singer><Where are you going, dad> and other TV programs made great success and became the hottest TV shows in China. As the show is getting more and more popular, the copyright license royalty is also increasing. As reported, before 2014, the license fee to Korean stations is usually between 10 to 30 thousands US dollars per episode. After a big success, some TV programs even cost as expensive as 10 times. China has the condition to buy copyrights, whereas Korea aims at the huge market of China, both of which contribute to the explosive growth of copyright transaction.

In this thesis, I will concentrate on arguing the following things. Firstly, I will analysis the definition and legal character of format. Should it be protected by copyright law? Secondly, I introduce the situation of legal protection of format in China, Korea and U.S. Lastly I will provide some practice strategy for format holders to protect the format besides the Copyright Law.