Unclaimed YouTube Copyright Fees Lead to Dispute Between Organizations… KOMCA Sued

Hamm Jeohyeop: “KOMCA manages and pays 100 billion won non-transparently”… KOMCA: “We apologize, will officially inform”,

Music Copyright Fees (PG)
[Illustration by Park Eun-joo],

” (Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Tae-soo = A legal conflict has arisen between the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), the largest copyright trust organization in the country, and another copyright organization, the Together Music Copyright Association (Hamm Jeohyeop) over residual copyright fees amounting to 100 billion won for music used on YouTube where the rights holders are either unspecified or unclaimed in time.”,

‘Hamm Jeohyeop filed an accusation and complaint on charges of embezzlement against KOMCA, claiming that KOMCA managed and paid the residual fees non-transparently, and KOMCA explained, “We will start officially informing about the residual fees from the 17th.” ‘,

‘On the 15th, Hamm Jeohyeop stated in a press release, “KOMCA received over 100 billion won in residual fees from Google, which operates YouTube, on behalf of music authors but did not properly disclose this information externally and kept it in accounts under KOMCA’s name for years,” and “contrary to the original purpose, it was distributed only to internal members, and through opaque management, did not properly pay fees to organizations that claimed their rightful share.” ‘,

‘Additionally, they criticized, “without disclosing detailed data on the criterion for the estimation and distribution of these significant fees, they paid only a part to Hamm Jeohyeop,” stating, “this is an act that undermines the essence of the trust contract meant to protect creators.” ‘,

‘In February, Hamm Jeohyeop filed a civil lawsuit for the return of unjust enrichment against KOMCA and last month, filed a criminal complaint and accusation for embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. They also stated plans to report to the Fair Trade Commission, alleging discriminatory treatment by Google towards both trust organizations.’,

‘Responding to this, KOMCA explained in a website announcement that “KOMCA signed a formal subscription agreement with Google, which runs YouTube, and received copyright fees accordingly. In this process, residual fees that no rights holder claimed within 24 months occurred for the usage from the second half of 2016 to the first half of 2022,” adding, “Google judged that a significant part of these residual fees likely pertained to works managed by KOMCA and paid them temporarily starting in 2019.” ‘,

‘Furthermore, they conducted a settlement with Hamm Jeohyeop when they claimed the copyright usage basis in 2022 and clarified that they have not been receiving YouTube residual fees since the third quarter of 2022.’,

‘KOMCA expressed, “The residual fees in question this time are not the association’s assets, but funds to be paid through the association when rights holders properly claim them,” adding, “We apologize for not actively informing about these matters.” ‘,

‘KOMCA stated that from the 17th, they will officially inform rights holders about claiming YouTube residual fees through their website.’,

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