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| Clothes shown in the Korean drama, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," are being sold on Chinese online shopping platform, Taobao. The images from the show were used illegally, with most of the products on it believed to be counterfeits. Captured from Taobao |
By Park Han-sol
Chinese online shopping malls are cashing in on the popularity of the hit Korean series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," through the unauthorized use of the show's images and sales of counterfeit goods.
On Taobao, one of the biggest online shopping platforms in the country, vendors have been appropriating images from the show in order to assist in selling clothes and other items donned by actress Park Eun-bin, who plays the role of Woo Young-woo.
They seem to offer everything from coats, blazers and skirts to leather shoulder bags and heels ― which came to form Woo's signature look ― at a wide range of price points, sometimes higher than that of genuine goods.
The drama itself has also become subject to unauthorized distribution in China.
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| An official poster for the hit drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of ENA |
"It's been reported that on Douban (the largest social networking website in China which allows users to submit ratings of films, dramas and books) that over 20,000 reviews have been uploaded for the series," Seo Kyoung-duk, academic activist and Sungshin Women's University professor, wrote on Facebook, July 21.
"A fan account for the drama (created on the popular microblogging platform, Weibo) already has over 30,000 followers," he added.
"Extraordinary Attorney Woo" is not the first Korean original series to fall victim to rampant illegal distribution and sales in China. The global sensation Netflix series "Squid Game" gained a massive following in the country after pirated DVDs became available. Local businesses and vendors further profited from the dystopian thriller by selling themed merchandise.
Other Netflix series "All of Us Are Dead," "Hellbound," "Space Sweepers" and "Kingdom: Ashin of the North" which were all released between 2021 and 2022, also became subject to similar forms of piracy.
The bootleg copies and themed products from such shows were sold on Taobao. Many episodes were also made available for free through dozens of unofficial streaming services and Weibo.
According to the recent data released by the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, from 2019 to 2021, China accounted for 32.5 percent ― or 85,135 in number ― of the total cases of illegal distribution of Korean media content.
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