Case Note: SBS v CJ E&M., Korean Supreme court Decision 2014Da9180 Decided November 9, 2017 -Analysis on Copyright Infringement Judgment of Reality TV Show in Korea- = Case Note: SBS v CJ E&M., Korean Supreme court Decision 2014Da9180 Decided November 9, 2017 -Analysis on Copyright Infringement Judgment of Reality TV Show in Korea-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this article is to analyze copyright infringement case between SBS and CJ E&M in Korea. The plaintiff, SBS had broadcast a TV show titled "Jjack" which is a reality TV program shown ordinary men and women find their partner. Defendant, CJ E&M broadcasted a "SNL Korea" and one segment of this program shown professional actors in charge of prisoners or patients search for a partner. Another audiovisual work of CJ E&M is video to promote their online game which concept is people who play games gather in love villages to find a pair to play with. SBS claimed that CJ E&M infringed the copyright of SBS, and engaged in unfair competition, and damaged the reputation by unauthorized use of the title "Jjack". This lawsuit had begun in 2012 in the Seoul Central District Court, going on appeal to the Seoul High Court, and ultimately to the Korea Supreme Court, which ruled in November 2017. It is noteworthy that the ruling, which was the same in the first and second instances, was finally partially reversed by the Supreme Court. A key point of the Supreme Court’s judgment was that a reality TV program which is unscripted and based only on a rough framework that show mainly how the participants react in certain situations can be protected as copyrightable work. The ruling appears to be an important milestone in the intellectual property dispute over reality TV show formats.