Korean choreography copyrights to be protected by Naver Z deal

South Korean dance choreography copyrights will be protected through an agreement between Naver Z Corp., the operator of Asia’s largest metaverse platform Zepeto, and MVNT Inc., a startup co-founded by a BTS choreographer, to ensure that creators are compensated for their work. 

The metaverse arm of South Korea’s online giant Naver Corp. and the choreography intellectual property (IP) startup signed a deal to develop and sell dance move products, industry sources said on Monday.

MVNT plans to create a virtual space called Dance World to sell choreography for avatars on Zepeto, which has over 20 million monthly active users.

South Korean choreographer Choi Youngjun, who has created dance routines for K-pop stars such as BTS and Twice, and Joon Jung, a contemporary dancer, founded MVNT in 2023 to distribute dance IPs and protect creators’ moral rights, attribution rights, adaption rights and other rights.

The startup secures the copyrights to dance moves through proprietary three-dimensional (3D) motion capture and related deep learning technology while producing high-quality animated content based on dancers’ choreography.

“The deal paved the way for the recognition of dancers’ rights, which had not been properly acknowledged, through advanced IT technology and industry consensus,” Jung said, referring to the agreement with Naver Z.

YET TO REWARD CHOREOGRAPHERS

K-pop’s slick and synchronized choreography has contributed to the global craze for South Korean music, inspiring fans around the world to learn the dance moves.

Choreographers have not been remunerated due to the lack of copyright protection, however, while other creators such as composers and lyricists earn royalties whenever K-pop music videos are played. Dance creators usually provide choreography, the composition of dance movements and routines, in exchange for service fees only.

A global celebrity choreographer took legal action to protect his copyrights.

Kyle Hanagami, a Los Angeles-based choreographer who worked with Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, BTS and BlackPink, filed a lawsuit in the US, claiming that Epic Games, Inc., the creator of the videogame Fortnite, infringed on the copyrights of choreographic content. He said the company created and sold a virtual animated image, known as an “emote,” depicting portions of the registered choreography in the game. 

A federal judge rejected the case, stating that Epic had only copied a few unprotected "poses" from the choreographer's routine in their game. The US Court of Appeals decided to overturn the ruling, however, saying that the copyrights should be analyzed more holistically, similarly to how courts protect copyrighted music.

The South Korean entertainment industry expected the government to establish a system to protect choreographers’ copyrights.

K-pop powerhouses such as SM Entertainment Co., YG Entertainment Inc. and JYP Entertainment Corp. told lawmakers last month that they would comply with laws to protect copyrights once those rules are prepared.

Domestic choreographers also took steps to secure their rights by setting up a body in April to protect their IPs with input from industry and legal experts.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim and Eun-Yi Ko at kjwan@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.