On the 11th, it was announced that seven companies belonging to the Webtoon Illegal Distribution Response Council (WebDAEHyup) (Kakao Entertainment, Naver Webtoon, Ridibooks, Kidari Studio, Lezhin Entertainment, Topco, and Tumix) submitted a petition urging severe punishment for the operators of the illegal webtoon sharing site 'Ajitoon' and the illegal web novel sharing site 'Ajitoon Novel.'
According to the webtoon industry on the 11th, a first trial regarding the operators of 'Ajitoon' and 'Ajitoon Novel' (hereafter referred to as the defendants) is set to be held at the Daejeon District Court on the 12th. WebDAEHyup submitted a petition demanding severe punishment for the defendants to the Daejeon District Court on the 10th.
According to WebDAEHyup, Ajitoon and Ajitoon Novel are the largest platforms in the country in terms of posts, traffic, and number of visitors. The Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office reported that they have infringed on copyrights of approximately 750,000 episodes of webtoons and about 2.5 million episodes of web novels, frequently changing domains and generating subsequent illegal sites.
The operator A is accused of running copyright-infringing websites since 2021, unlawfully reproducing, distributing, and transmitting various content from webtoon companies and others, or abetting the illegal reproduction by users of the websites.
WebDAEHyup stated, 'Such copyright infringement activities cause significant economic damage to numerous copyright holders and severely undermine the ecosystem of the K-content industry.'
They further noted, 'Therefore, we earnestly urge that stringent punishment be imposed on the defendants to create a precedent that will serve as a warning to both domestic and international illegal distribution sellers and users.'
On the same day, Kakao Entertainment released a separate official statement. Kakao Entertainment stated, 'Even considering just the number of illegal posts, traffic, and visitors on Ajitoon, it is a severe situation where the economic and psychological damages incurred by creators are expected to reach a minimum of several billion to up to several hundred billion, making it difficult to even estimate the exact amount of damage.'
They further claimed, 'This level significantly exceeds the general legal penalty amounts, and considering the situation where content was redistributed through social media, the scale of damage is even greater, highlighting the need for strengthened legal sanctions.'
They also urged, 'In the current situation, where urgent measures to eradicate illegal content distribution are needed, if thorough investigations into the 'Ajitoon' operators lead to the highest level of punishment commensurate with the seriousness of the crime, it could raise awareness among both illegal distributors and users and create a significant case to show how serious and malicious copyright infringement crimes are.'