▲ K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- The use of trademarks by agencies for their affiliated entertainers will be limited to public cultural and artistic activities, such as acting and singing, to prevent abuse of trademarks by agencies. 

 

Additionally, the ban on re-creating and selling content, such as songs produced by the previous agency (when a singer moves to a new agency) will be extended from one year to three years to reduce incentives for tampering (pre-contact during the exclusive contract period).

 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) announced on the 3rd that it will implement two revised versions of the "Standard Exclusive Contracts for Popular Culture Artists" (one for singers and one for actors), containing these new measures. The revised versions focus on the attribution of intellectual property rights (IP) such as copyrights and publicity rights (name, likeness, voice), management authority and artists' obligations, settlement and revenue distribution, and reducing incentives for tampering.

 

Firstly, to prevent abuse of trademarks by agencies, the attribution of intellectual property rights has been clearly defined. Agencies must limit the use of trademarks registered under their names to providing popular culture services. The current regulation requiring the transfer of trademarks to the artist after the contract ends will be categorized based on whether the artist worked as a group or an individual. Agencies cannot demand additional compensation for trademark transfers if it was already deducted during previous settlements.

 

The artists' publicity rights remain exclusively utilized by the agency during the contract period but inherently belong to the artist. The revised contract explicitly states that publicity rights belong to the artist, and after the contract ends, any use of these rights by the agency must be agreed upon in writing in advance with the artist.

 

The exclusive contract period remains based on a seven-year standard. While current regulations allow contracts longer than seven years, artists can terminate the contract after seven years. The revised version limits the initial contract period to no more than seven years, requiring written agreements for any extensions.

 

Agencies are also required to consider the mental and physical well-being of artists and cannot impose schedules against the artist's explicit wishes. Conversely, artists cannot refuse to provide services without legitimate reasons or make unreasonable demands outside the scope of the exclusive contract.

 

The revised contracts also address issues highlighted by recent contract disputes, such as the Fifty Fifty group's case, by reducing incentives for tampering. When artists move to a new agency, the prohibition period on re-creating and selling similar content to what was produced by the former agency is extended from one year to three years, thereby reducing expected profits that could trigger tampering.

 

To prevent settlement-related disputes, the revised contracts require specifying the settlement period for revenues from content generated after the contract ends.

 

Additionally, the definition of youth is standardized to "under 19 years old," and the permissible working hours for youth artists will follow the relevant laws, such as the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act. Youth artist protection provisions will prioritize the application of the Standard Supplementary Agreement for Youth Popular Culture Artists.

 

The MCST, along with agency and artist associations and organizations, developed these revised contracts, which will be posted on the MCST (www.mcst.go.kr) and Korea Creative Content Agency (www.kocca.kr) websites and distributed to relevant organizations.

 

Yoon Yang-soo, director of the Content Policy Bureau at MCST, stated, "We focused on addressing the difficulties raised by the industry and resolving points where disputes frequently occur. We hope that this revision will reduce potential conflicts between contracting parties and establish a mature contract culture."

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]