#Kakao Entertainment’s 4th Whitepaper Details Ongoing Efforts to Stamp Out Illegal Content Piracy

Kakao Entertainment’s Illegal Distribution Response Team, P.CoK, released its fourth whitepaper on its efforts against content piracy this past early February 2024. The whitepaper includes tables and infographics that detail the significant milestones they have reached in their battle against content piracy, and the removal of the highest number of illegal works to date. 

P.CoK’s comprehensive whitepaper report outlines the team’s achievements over the past seven months (from February 2023 to December 2023) in combating the illegal distribution of webtoons and web novels. It highlights notable progress in legal responses, copyright protection, and user collaboration initiatives, as well as achieving significant takedown operations totaling 208 million within seven months. 

This surpasses the total numbers announced in the third whitepaper by over 14 times and the first report by more than 88 times. The success is credited to the introduction of an automated process that analyzes domain change patterns and enables faster responses to illegal sites in Korea and overseas countries. 

Kakao Entertainment anticipated that the new system would block more illegal distributions in 2023, but actual performance exceeded expectations by nearly eightfold. Expanding the response system to encompass all language regions, including the Middle East, Latin America, and Vietnam, also made a notable contribution to its success.

The whitepaper also detailed the launch of comprehensive legal actions against illegal sites and operators. Kakao Entertainment identified and initiated legal proceedings against various overseas illegal sites, including the operators of the world’s largest illegal distribution site, whom they refer to as “M.” 

It also initiated a proposal to partner with the Japanese manga industry and take joint legal action against these privacy sites. The operators of Chinese piracy sites “L” and “Yi” were identified, and documents were submitted to the Chinese Internet Court. In Thailand, accounts were temporarily frozen, and preparations were made for legal proceedings against operators there. The team is also working to takedown major illegal webtoon sites in Latin America, further reinforcing Kakao Entertainment’s commitment to combat global content piracy.

Kakao Entertainment strongly believes that identifying the operators of illegal sites is crucial as a prerequisite to shut them down and bring prosecution against them. Since most illegal sites have servers overseas, identifying perpetrators for prosecution can be challenging. 

Even after filing a complaint, prosecution can be difficult to move forward due to anonymity. Kakao Entertainment is taking proactive steps towards shutting down illegal sites by leveraging its operator-identification system and global platform networks amassed through years of enforcement expertise. This involves sharing information with local branches and affiliates to facilitate civil and criminal lawsuits through local law enforcement agencies, as well as private law firms.

The company has also initiated a practice of sending copyright protection letters to creators from July 2023, providing them with quarterly updates on the latest enforcement progress. The letters have so far covered over 600 illegal distribution cases involving 100 content providers. Each case of copyright infringement has been thoroughly addressed by Kakao Entertainment, and the outcomes were communicated to the respective creators. 

Kakao Entertainment’s initiative in combating content piracy is the first of its kind in the industry, systematically informing creators about the protection status of their works. It relays information on cases reported by creators themselves and sheds light on instances of illegal distribution involving their works without their knowledge. The company plans to gradually expand the number of recipients, as the creators appreciate being able to quantitatively track the progress.

Meaningful changes have also been made in user communication, which has been actively carried out across various social media channels. The copyright awareness initiatives that have been in place since the first whitepaper have further minimized blind spots in enforcement monitoring, and the enhanced engagement with users through social media platforms has fostered a community of vigilant collaborators who actively report illegal products and operators, thereby bolstering enforcement efforts.

An English summary for the fourth whitepaper is also available on Kakao Entertainment’s main press website. 

Source: press release