[Anchor]
Illegal deepfake advertisements that unauthorizedly misappropriate the faces of famous celebrities are running rampant. While this is a representative case of the infringement of the right of publicity, the problem is that the competent authority, the Korean Intellectual Property Office's special judicial police, lacks investigative authority.
Here is a report by reporter Kim Bo-mi.
[Reporter]
[Three, four, five, boom! I got 2 million won!]
It looks as if a famous webtoon artist is running a game and broadcasting live, but in reality, it is an illegal deepfake gambling advertisement created using AI without the artist's consent.
When the "Play Game" button is clicked, it leads to an online casino download screen.
This is an attempt to make private profits by unauthorizedly using a celebrity's name, face, voice, and other attributes, which can be seen as an illegal act infringing upon the "right of publicity," also known as the right to commercialize one's personal identity.
Victims can file complaints or accusations based on charges such as the infringement of portrait rights under the Civil Act or defamation under the Criminal Act, and the competent authority, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, can also launch administrative investigations based on the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
In fact, in March, corrective orders were issued against four merchandise companies that unauthorizedly misappropriated idols' faces.
It was the first administrative punishment in about four years since provisions protecting the "right of publicity" were newly established under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act in 2022, but the number of crackdown cases for "deepfake videos" still stands at zero.
This is because most infringing acts occur on online platforms, but administrative investigations alone have limitations if platforms do not provide the personal information of the posters.
Although there are special judicial police officers affiliated with the Korean Intellectual Property Office who are capable of conducting investigations, acts copying and profiting from famous goods or businesses are currently the only targets of investigation under the current law, while acts related to the "right of publicity" are not included.
[Heo Seong-mu / National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee Member (Democratic Party of Korea): Aren't the damages immense as one's own face, voice, and signature are used without authorization? ...so that the special judicial police can actively engage in investigation and punishment.]
Related bill amendments that would impose an obligation on online platforms to cooperate with administrative investigations and enable investigations by the special judicial police have been proposed in the National Assembly.
(Camera Reporter: Joo Yong-jin, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editor: Yu Mi-ra | Design: Yang Gi-tae)
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