SEOUL — Foreign pornography producers are suing South Korean Internet users for breach of copyright by uploading their content onto local websites, police said Thursday.
In an unusual case, a local law firm representing 50 US and Japanese porn producers has filed suit against about 10,000 heavy uploaders.
The lawsuit was filed simultaneously through 10 police stations in Seoul and the adjoining Gyeonggi province, a National Police Agency spokesman said, refusing to give details.
One officer at the agency said the foreign porn producers had asked for a police investigation into breach of copyright, which is punishable in South Korea by jail terms.
“Police will look into the case to see whether there was any breach of the law before deciding whether to initiate criminal probes against them,” the officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Munhwa newspaper reported that the lawsuit calls for swift legal action, saying the unlimited distribution of pornography is “very harmful to juveniles” in one of the world’s most wired societies.
“We selected about 10,000 user IDs that earned financial benefits from habitually uploading pornography on websites,” an official of the unidentified law firm told local media.
The official said his clients would seek financial damages in addition to police action. He said they would also sue about 80 South Korean website operators on similar charges.
Some of the local Internet users allegedly earned up to 30 million won (24,170 dollars) a month from other users who clicked on the content.