Photographer loses suit against Korean Air

Michael Kenna’s ‘Solseom’

By Kim Se-jeong

The Seoul Central District Court ruled against Michael Kenna, a well-known English photographer, Thursday, in a copyright infringement case brought against Korean Air.

The ruling came almost eight months after Gallery Kong filed a suit against the airliner on behalf of the photographer, claiming that a photograph that appeared in its commercials copied a famous work of the photographer.

“When the subject is identical, it is the matter of preference of a photographer in deciding when, where and how to shoot. They are just two different ideas which can’t be protected by copyright law,” read the court ruling.

The gallery said it would appeal.

The subject of the photograph is Seok Island in Gangwon Province, known as “Solseom.”

Kenna’s work is in black and white, while the photo used by Korean Air is in color.

Kenna took the photograph in 2007, three years earlier than the Korean Air one, taken by an amateur Korean photographer who was one of the winners of a photo contest organized by the company.

The ruling, the first of its kind, drew mixed reactions from other photographers.

Yoo Beyl-nam, a freelance photographer, said the ruling is just a mere reflection of photography being manipulated by means of money and power.

Still, he said the gallery’s argument had some weak points. “Those who’ve been to the island will know that there are only a few spots from which you can make a decent photo.”

Yi Sang-il, director of Goeun Museum of Photography in Busan who takes an artistic approach to photography, said this case shows Korea’s photography in identity crisis.

“The focus was how similar one photograph looks to the other. But, what this should boil down to is creativity. The photograph was a product of Kenna’s artistic interpretation of the island. As an artistic photographer and knowing the existence of his work, I would not use the same subject for my work.”