“Publication stopped due to copyright threats” Translator seeks damages… Court dismisses the case as “there is no evidence”

A translator who was acquitted after being sent on charges of violating copyright law filed a lawsuit for damages against another translator who sued him, but lost.

According to the legal community on the 29th, the Western Branch of the Daejeon District Court ruled on the 20th of last month that the plaintiff, A, a 50-year-old translator, lost in a lawsuit seeking damages filed against another translator, B.

The incident began in 2016 when Mr. A translated and published a classic Chinese philosophy book. Mr. B, who published the same translated book in 2004, pointed out the similarity in content and sued Mr. A for violation of copyright law. After Mr. B raised the issue, Mr. A's publisher withdrew all books and stopped publishing them.

However, the prosecution acquitted Mr. A on the grounds that it was difficult to acknowledge the similarities in the translation process. Accordingly, Mr. A filed a lawsuit demanding compensation of 50 million won, including royalties, reissue costs, and psychological damages, claiming that publication of the book was stopped because Mr. B threatened the publisher's representative.

In this lawsuit, Mr. B denied the charges, saying that he never threatened the representative of Mr. A's publishing company and only raised a legitimate issue. At the same time, Mr. A's publisher's representative refuted the problem and said that he had stopped publishing after apologizing.

The court accepted Mr. B’s argument. The final decision, including the suspension of publication, was made by the representative of Mr. A's publisher, and it is difficult to say that Mr. B threatened based on the evidence submitted by Mr. A alone.

Attorney Shin Min-soo of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. B, said, “Mr. A claimed that the cause of the damage was a threat from Mr. B, but he proved that he did not threaten him by submitting as evidence a phone call in which the publisher’s representative acknowledged his mistake and apologized.”

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

[View full article]
Translator claims damages for “publication stopped due to copyright threats”… Court dismisses “no evidence” (Shortcut)