IU has been accused of plagiarism for allegedly using other artists’ music without permission.
According to an investigation by Maeil Business Newspaper on the 10th, a member of the public, A, reported IU to the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul on May 8th for violating copyright laws, claiming that the singer’s six songs, including “The Red Shoes,” “Good Day,” “BBIBBI,” “Pitiful,” “Boo,” and “Celebrity,” plagiarized overseas and domestic artists’ music.
According to the complaint, “Many of the songs have the same melody, rhythm, and chord progression as the original sounds. Especially ‘Good Day’ and ‘The Red Shoes’ have a significant similarity even to ordinary listeners. The intro, which leads to the overall atmosphere and identity of the entire music, is suspected of plagiarism in all six songs.“
In fact, “The Red Shoes” caused controversy when it was released in 2017 for similarities to German band Nekta’s “Here’s Us”. The original author, Nekta, reportedly sent an email to IU’s agency at the time, Loen Entertainment, to protest the plagiarism, but received no response.
The accuser said, “There have been several allegations of plagiarism, but IU has not provided any explanation and has instead reported SNS posts that raise such issues as copyright infringement, leading to the deletion of those posts. I filed this complaint because I felt a problem with the lack of awareness and unreasonable attitude of the judiciary regarding the determination of infringement of copyright and the calculation of damages in many cases related to copyright infringement.“
Violation of the Copyright Act is a criminal offense that usually requires a complaint to be filed for prosecution. In this case, the original authors who were the targets of plagiarism should file the complaint.
However, Law Firm B, which represented the accuser, explained, “Article 140, Paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act states, ‘If a person infringes the reproduction, performance, broadcasting, exhibition, distribution, rental, or creation of a secondary work of copyright for profit or habitually, it shall not be so if he/she did not do it intentionally.’”
They added, “Since it cannot be denied that the defendant (IU) has a profit motive as a singer and it is possible to recognize a habituality based on numerous allegations of plagiarism, the plaintiff has the right to file a complaint against the defendant who infringed the copyright for profit or habitually, even though they are not the victim.”
Source: Nate.
