A copyright dispute broke out between sisters over a book that ranked as a bestseller in the essay category last year. The court recognized the copyright of the draft written by the older sister and ordered a ban on sales and advertising of the book until the relevant content is deleted.
according to legal sources, on the 24th, the Seoul Southern District Court's Civil Agreement Division 51 (chief senior judge Kwon Sung-soo) partially granted on the 20th the older sister A's request for an injunction to prohibit publication and distribution of a work against the younger sister B and the publisher.
Accordingly, younger sister B can no longer print, sell, distribute, or advertise the book with content similar to older sister A's draft included. Books and promotional materials already published are also subject to disposal.
According to the decision, the case began with a joint project between the sisters. In May 2024, younger sister B asked older sister A to write part of the manuscript for her second book, and A accepted and wrote part of the manuscript through February last year. The sisters also signed a joint publishing contract.
But in April of the same year, B said, "I want to write this book myself," expressing her intention to write it alone, and A stopped working. B later published the book as the sole author in August last year.
The issue is that the published book contains many passages similar to the draft written by A. A argued that 9 of the total 50 chapters correspond to her manuscript and that 11,135 of the total 75,924 characters were used without permission.
Older sister A pointed out to younger sister B and the publisher that they used the draft without permission and demanded that they stop or provide proper compensation, but this was not accepted.
The court partially granted A's request for an injunction to prohibit publication and distribution of the work. The panel found, "Looking at this book, there is substantial similarity, as sentences and expressions from the draft written by A were used as is or with changes to the order, etc."
The parts where the panel recognized similarity are as follows. The sentence in the draft, "If there is something that has changed, these days I think heavily about the weight of words," appeared in the published book in an almost identical way as "If there is something that has changed, it is that I have come to think more deeply about the weight of words."
B argued that because the draft was written based on materials and interviews she provided, A's role was limited to editing or polishing and did not constitute a work.
However, the panel reached a different conclusion. The panel said, "It is difficult to see that (younger sister B) contributed to the creative form of expression itself, beyond providing ideas, materials, or data."
The panel outlined three exceptional cases in which a so-called "ghostwriter" cannot claim copyright when writing a book based on another person's autobiographical story. ▲ The person other than the ghostwriter personally and entirely contributed to the creative expression ▲ The work was created in the course of employment by an employee of a corporation or the like ▲ The ghostwriter agreed not to exercise copyright. The panel determined that this case does not fall under these exceptions.
Regarding the panel's decision, attorney Park Ae-ran of the Korea Copyright Commission (KCC) said, "Ghostwriters are often regarded as invisible writers, but they are clearly creators with copyright," adding, "This also reaffirms how far a ghostwriter's rights can be recognized."
Younger sister B is an influencer with about 200,000 followers on social media (SNS). B objected to the panel's decision. B said, "The writing for which the other side (older sister A) claims copyright is a creative work written based on my unique experiences and records," adding, "I will appeal to the end."