‘Soju War’ to be Released without Director’s Name… New Writer’s Rights Recognized after Legal Battle
The film ‘Soju War,’ set to be released on the 30th, will meet the audience without the director’s name, which is unprecedented.
This is a decision made by the court in favor of the production company’s claim, following a copyright dispute and the termination of the director’s contract during the film production process.
The production company The Lamp had been trying to resolve conflicts with the director Choi Yoon-jin over the past year, but eventually resorted to legal action due to differences in positions surrounding the controversy over the original scenario writer.
The core issue was who the actual creator of the ‘Soju War’ scenario was.
Conflict arose when it was confirmed that the scenario submitted by Choi Yoon-jin, who was originally credited as the sole writer, bore significant similarities to the existing work of the rookie writer Park Hyun-woo.
Through the emotions of the Korean Scenario Writers Guild, The Lamp concluded that Park Hyun-woo’s work served as the basis, and subsequently decided to credit Park as the first in the screenplay credits.
Choi opposed this decision and applied for an injunction to suspend the termination of the director’s contract, but the court dismissed all of these requests.
The court stated that Park’s right to be credited is related to the moral rights of authorship, and that failure to include his name in the screenplay credits could lead to copyright infringement.
The Lamp acknowledged Choi Yoon-jin’s contribution by listing her in the credits as ‘on-set director,’ and expressed the stance that “protecting the rights of creators is more important than anything else.”
Thus, ‘Soju War’ being screened without the director’s name is a rare case in the industry, and is expected to draw social attention to the copyright and ethics of creatIVE works.
The film, set against the backdrop of the IMF crisis, intricately portrays the tension between humans and capital, tradition and change through the fierce conflict between a soju company’s financial director and a global investment firm employee.