The mastermind behind an operation that illegally copied a large volume of domestic broadcast programs and provided them to overseas Koreans for a fee has been sentenced to prison.

Judge Hwang Ji-young of Criminal Single Division 23 at the Seoul Central District Court recently sentenced a person surnamed Lee, who was indicted on charges of violating the Copyright Act, to three years in prison.

Ten accomplices who were indicted along with Lee received suspended prison sentences or fines, respectively.

Lee was accused of encoding (copying) programs broadcast in real-time by domestic broadcasting companies, broadcasting them without authorization over the internet, or turning them into video-on-demand (VOD) content to provide them to overseas Koreans for a subscription fee.

Investigations showed that from December 2017 to February 2023, he copied programs from a total of 32 broadcasting companies and uploaded them to an online platform.

His accomplices recruited subscribers to the platform among Korean expatriates in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, and Russia, and collected usage fees.

The profits were estimated to total approximately 1.027 billion won.

The court criticized them, stating, "Lee and the others systematically copied and transmitted programs from 32 domestic broadcasters without authorization, allowing numerous subscribers to view them and reaping profits such as subscription fees. Given the circumstances, methods, duration, and scale of the damage, the nature of the crime is very grave."

The court added in explaining its sentencing rationale, "Such copyright infringement crimes not only undermine copyright holders' opportunities to generate revenue but also dampen creative motivation, ultimately hindering cultural development, making the culpability heavy. Furthermore, no restitution has been made to the copyright holders."