Korea Daily takes on rival newspaper in copyright claim

Newspaper  Korea Daily has sued rival publication Korean American Times, alleging that it has republished “verbatim copies” of Korea Daily’s and others’ copyright works.

The copyright infringement lawsuit was filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Friday, January 27.

Korea Daily is distributed throughout New York and across other states, and the publication, known as Joong-Ang Ilbo, is available both in print and electronically.

The newspaper claimed that Korean American Times does not create its own stories, and instead is “engaged in a pattern of misappropriating content and infringing copyrights”.

Korean American Times, also known as Byuh-Reug Shi Jang, is a New York-based company.

In September last year, Korea Daily published a copyrighted article, authored by Seo Han Seo, called “The New York State District Attorney’s Office begins investigation into ‘Trump Foundation’”.

Two days after publishing, Korean American Times published the entire article without any making changes, according to the claim.

Korea Daily listed five other articles that had allegedly been infringed, adding that it had applied to the US Copyright Office in December last year for copyright registration of the articles.

Korea Daily claimed that the defendant is diverting readers and advertisers that would otherwise engage with the publication.

“This practice takes readers away from plaintiff’s publications, which, in turn, has damaged and will damage plaintiff’s ability to attract advertisers,” said the suit.

Korea Daily is seeking a jury trial, statutory damages of $150,000 per work infringed, injunctive relief, removal of all Korea Daily-owned copyright material, and an account of profits.

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