ED Urgent copyright education

Font developers waging court battle to seek compensation

Elementary, middle and high schools across the country are expected to face unexpected hardship due to their alleged infringement of copyright of specific hangeul (Korean alphabet) fonts digitized for computer use.

Some font developers and their law firms have sent by mail certification of content about suspected copyright violations to schools and education offices nationwide. Schools have been contacted one after another since the second half of last year as a preparatory step for damage suits. The expected amount of compensation for damage is in the tens of billions of won, according to legal experts.

The massive legal action taken by the font designers was encouraged after they partially won in a suit they lodged in August 2016 against two public elementary schools in Incheon, pocketing 5 million won ($4,314) in compensation. Experts maintain that specific letter styles are not available for copyright protection. However, the copyright of digitized font files is protected as a computer program.

It cannot be overemphasized that a creator's rights must be protected. Using their creative works without permission not only depresses their morale, but hinders efforts to protect intellectual property. Yet, the problem is that even users do not know whether or not they violate the copyright.

The schools must have downloaded the computer files of the digitized fonts to prepare teaching materials for the purpose of education because they are offered free of charge. But the court's judgment was in favor of the font developers.

In fact, it is not that easy for people to judge which copyright should be protected or not because the types of copyrights are so complicated and the kinds are so diverse. It is quite natural that copyright law should be applied strictly to any violation. But what's more important and urgent is proper education about copyright for the public.