Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Production companies clash over 'Les Miserables' concert copyright
A statement from Les Miserables Korea / Screen capture from the website of Les Miserables Korea
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Poster for “The French Musical Cast Concert Les Miserables” / Courtesy of K&P Entertainment
Korean production companies are clashing over copyright issues surrounding the concert, “Les Miserables,” four days before it is scheduled to be held in Seoul and Busan from May 15 to 23.
Les Miserable Korea (KCMI), the Korean unit of Cameron Mackintosh (CML), the U.K. production company of the musical “Les Miserables,” released a statement, Monday, claiming that the concert could be in violation of their copyright.
“Lyricist Alain Boublil, composer Claude-Michel Schonberg and the production company of the musical 'Les Miserables' were quoted as saying that 'Les Miserables: the French original cast concert' didn't receive prior approval from the British company, so the concert should be canceled as it severely violates the owners' copyrights,” KCMI said in a statement on its website.
“The forthcoming concert is a world first and there are no French actors who actually appeared in the original 'Les Miserable' musical. The Korean production company (K&P Entertainment and Culture Box) put it together by hiring artists through a French agency.”
It also added the phrase, “French original cast concert 'Les Miserable'”, may give the audience the wrong impression that the cast that performed the original musical “Les Miserable” may come to Korea for the performance, while stressing that it is taking legal action against those production companies.
However, K&P Entertainment claimed Tuesday that there are no copyright issues and KCMI is simply sabotaging the upcoming concert. K&P Entertainment pledged to take further legal action.
“We organized this 'lawful' performance according to legal advice that the concert doesn't need previous approval from the copyright owners and the royalty would be paid after the performance to each countries' copyright associations … Other production companies already staged similar concerts in various countries, such as China, the Netherlands, Taiwan and even in Korea.”
“However, CML and its partner KCMI expressed worries that the performance may be a copyright violation. So we did our best to reflect their opinions and changed some phrases in the poster. Still, KCMI is making 'excessive' requests and defining our concert as something 'illegal'.”
An official of K&P Entertainment said, “We are facing massive damages due to the sabotage by KCMI. Many ticket bookings are being cancelled. We think the company is afraid of losing their audience for the upcoming musical 'Les Miserable' which is slated to be held in winter. We are taking legal action against the obstruction.”