Regarding the copyright infringement allegations against the singer IU, a decision has been made.
On the 4th of September, IU’s agency, EDAM Entertainment released an official statement to announce the news, they stated, “Regarding the allegations made against our artist IU in May of this year, a decision has been made.”
The decision is to conclude the case when there is no crime suspicion or when the complainant does not cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation in order to prevent the misuse of baseless complaints and accusations.
The agency stated, “We will do our best to protect our artist, and we will aggressively pursue additional criminal complaints and legal actions against multiple malicious commenters. We will take full responsibility and continue to prepare for civil lawsuits and criminal complaints related to this case.”
Earlier, an individual referred to as A accused IU of plagiarism, alleging that IU’s songs, including “Bbom Bbom,” “Good Day,” “Palette,” and “Celebrity,” plagiarized music from overseas and domestic artists. This complaint was filed on May 8th with the Seoul Gangnam Police Station, citing copyright law violations.
The following is the official statement from the law firm:
This is EDAM Entertainment.
A criminal allegation was filed against our artist IU (hereinafter referred to as the Artist’) with the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul for allegedly infringing the copyrights of six musical works.
Yet a decision to dismiss the case was made on August 24.
Accordingly, we share with you the progress of the criminal allegation filed and our future response, which we have received from Shinwon Law Firm (LLC),
which we selected as our legal representative.
First of all, we first heard through media reports that on May 10, 2023, the Artist was reported to Gangnam Police Station in Seoul on for allegedly violating the Copyright Act.
Through our legal representative, we immediately requested disclosure of the criminal allegation and obtained a copy of the criminal allegation document.
Shinwon LLC submitted four legal briefs in total, strongly asserting that the criminal allegation in this case had no legal basis and should be dismissed.
In the end, the investigative agency decided to “dismiss” the criminal allegation against the Artist on August 24, on the grounds that it did not constitute a crime, and we received the notice of the investigation results on August 30.
In order for copyright infringement to be recognized under the Copyright Act, an author must create a work that is substantially similar to another author’s existing work without permission.
In other words, the establishment of copyright infringement presupposes the Artist’s participation in composing the six songs, as claimed by the accuser.
However, the Artist never participated in composing the five songs that were the subject of the criminal allegation, and the part which the accuser took issue with in the one song whose music composition the Artist participated in was not one in which the Artist participated.
In other words, we believe that since the Artist is not the composer,
she cannot be a party to a copyright infringement dispute. However, the accuser either did not properly understand the Copyright Act or, despite being aware of this fact, filed the criminal allegation simply to maliciously harass the Artist.
Currently, we have requested a full investigation into posted videos and texts that libel the accuser and the Artist by submitting to the investigative agency the information on the relationship among the defendants in the cases filed.
Furthermore, we will continue to relentlessly pursue acts that damage the character
and reputation of the Artist until the end to prevent their recurrence, and will strict civil and criminal liability in accordance with the ‘zero tolerance principle.’
We accept report emails only to [[email protected]]. As we review all valuable reports you send us, we ask our fans to feel free to reach us. Last but not the least,
EDAM Entertainment will do its best to protect the Artist by mobilizing all available resources.
Thank you.
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