Photo: Handout
G-Dragon (pic) of Big Bang and Yang Hyun-suk, the head of K-pop powerhouse YG Entertainment, are being probed over alleged violation of copyright law, officials said Wednesday.
"Police have launched an investigation into the two after receiving a complaint in November from a composer who claimed that the singer and Yang had illegally copied the composer's song," an official at Seoul's Mapo Police Station told The Korea Herald.
Police have twice raided YG Entertainment's headquarters in Seoul's Mapo-gu and have questioned those involved in the case, the official added. The official declined to comment further on the issue, saying that the case is "ongoing."
The composer claimed that YG Entertainment had illegally copied G-Dragon, the song he made, and later produced and released it as part of G-Dragon's live solo concert album Shine A Light in 2010 without authorisation, according to local reports. Producing and distributing albums without the permission of the person who made the music violates Article 136 of the Copyright Act.
The song was registered with the Korea Music Copyright Association in 2001, with the individual listed as the composer and arranger.
A senior official at YG Entertainment told The Korea Herald that the case does not violate the copyright law.
"The artiste (G-Dragon) included two different songs during his solo concert in 2009 that happened to have the same title on the setlist, so this is not a case of copyright infringement," the official explained, declining to provide further information on the ongoing investigation.
An official at Galaxy Corporation, G-Dragon's agency, also echoed the same remarks, declining to comment further on the issue. – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
