Writer Lee Woo-young's bereaved family sues publishers...How far is "Black Rubber Shoes" coming?

[Anchor]
You may remember Lee Woo-young, the author of "Black Rubber Shoes," who died during a copyright dispute.

The author's bereaved family has filed a lawsuit against the publisher, claiming that its copyright has been violated.

Reporter Park Soon-pyo pointed out how far the process and system have been improved since writer Lee Woo-young died.

[Reporter]
It is a popular cartoon in the 90s, black rubber shoes.

Because of the contract that was unilaterally favorable to the publisher, writer Lee Woo-young himself could not use the character at will.

The publisher even filed a copyright lawsuit against the author, who eventually killed himself in March last year.

This time, the author's bereaved family has filed a lawsuit against the publisher.

The lawsuit filed by the publisher has not been completed, so the "black rubber shoe incident" eventually turned into a complicated court battle.

[Lee Ji-hyun / Lee Woo-young's wife: My husband and I released a book called Mistake Express in 2015]

has not been without improvement in the system since Woo Young's death.

Standard contracts in the field of comics and webtoons have been newly created, and a legal support center has been created to provide systematic advice and education.

But it's not a fundamental solution.

[Kim Dong-hoon / Lee Woo-young Case Countermeasure Committee Chairman: There were bills that not only promoted the rights of creators but also maintained a healthy ecosystem with content providers, but now they are all discarded, so we are very sorry about that.]

In fact, a related bill was proposed in the 21st National Assembly, but it failed to cross the threshold of the National Assembly due to opposition from content providers.

In the end, it is pointed out that in order to prevent the second Lee Woo-young incident, it is necessary to change the perception that the industry develops together only when the rights of the creator are protected.

I'm Park Soonpyo of YTN.

Reporter for shooting
: Lee Youngjae