Eight years of 'black rubber shoes' lawsuit, the bereaved family won.."May there be no tragedy again" [staise]

*This content was translated by AI.

The late Lee Woo-young, a cartoon "Black Rubber Shoe" painter, won the Supreme Court's final victory in eight years in a damage suit filed against the publisher.

On the 8th, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss the hearing in an appeal filed by Hyungseol Publishing in opposition to the second trial ruling regarding the copyright dispute of "Black Rubber Shoes." According to the legal community, the appeal filed by Jang Jin-hyuk, CEO of Hyungseol Publishing Company, was not accepted because there were no serious legal misunderstandings or constitutional issues in the judgment of the lower court. As a result, the lower court's ruling was confirmed.

With this decision, the copyright dispute over the late artist Lee Woo-young's masterpiece "Black Rubber Shoes" has no longer been settled without any legal contention.

Regarding the decision, Kim Dong-hoon, chairman of the countermeasure committee, said, "The Supreme Court's rejection of the non-continuance of the hearing confirms the legal justification of the existing ruling," adding, "I hope this case will serve as an opportunity to look back on the entire structure in which creators are not protected, not a specific work or individual." "The judicial judgment has been concluded, but discussions on institutional supplementation and improving the industry's overall awareness should continue to prevent similar tragedies from repeating," he added.

Earlier in August 2025, the Seoul High Court's Civil Division 4 (Chief Judge Kim Woo-jin and Koo Tae-hoe Kim Kwang-nam) ruled that "CEO Jang, Hyungseol & should jointly pay about 40 million won to the bereaved family of the late Lee Woo-young," and ordered, "The publisher should not use the "Black Rubber Shoe" character."

In November 2023, the first trial judged that the existing copyright contract between the deceased and the publisher was valid and ruled that the deceased should compensate CEO Jang for damages, adding, "The bereaved side should pay about 74 million won to the publisher."

"Black Rubber Shoes," which was serialized from 1992 to 2006, is a cartoon about elementary school student Ki-young, middle school student Ki-cheol, and their families living in Seoul in the 1960s. Lee drew with his younger brother Lee Woo-jin, and Lee Young-il wrote. A total of 45 books have been published in books. In 1999, a TV animation based on a cartoon of the same name was aired on KBS and became very popular, leading to the character business.

However, the late writer Lee Woo-young was shocked when he was found dead in a house in Seowon-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon in March 2023, and according to police, the deceased reportedly made an extreme choice at the scene, adding to the repercussion. At the time, the deceased's family stated in a police investigation that they had "struggled with copyright litigation," and the deceased has also been engaged in legal disputes with co-copyrights of "Black Rubber Shoes" since 2019.

The lawsuit that influenced the extreme choice of the deceased was the 'black rubber shoes' copyright infringement complaint. It was a copyright infringement to show the animation of "Black Rubber Shoes" to children at a rural experience farm run by the late mother, and the deceased has also lamented the situation in which activities using the "Black Rubber Shoes" character are impossible.

Since the complaint was first filed in November 2019, the court has decided on a mediation committee less than a month ago and tried to reach an agreement between the two sides. However, the mediation collapsed in May 2020, and the deceased filed a counterclaim, signaling that they would begin a full-fledged legal battle.

The hearing preparation period was held five times, and the results of the hearing had to be waited for the fact-finding results. It took as long as a year and four months to prepare for the defense. In addition, an appraisal date was held separately, and the first hearing could only be held in May 2022. The date change continued several times. Some sarcastically said that the trial was deliberately delayed (though there was no evidence).

In addition, a fierce dispute continued in the defense in June, the first anniversary of the defendant's death. Hyungseol & expressed that (the claim of copyright infringement) is a legitimate right because he has transferred all his work activities and business contracts to creators who are still in an unfair position over the copyright of black rubber shoes that have been displayed on the screen since a long time has passed, and pointed out that he arbitrarily drew the picture without the consent of the publisher. He even claimed that Ki-young's character was cited for changing the story and that the value of the original work was damaged.

Meanwhile, the Korea Copyright Commission announced that it has removed registration of nine types, including Ki-young and Ki-chul, representative characters of "Black Rubber Shoes." The Korea Copyright Commission mentioned the fact that a person who does not have the authority to apply for registration has applied for registration on the basis of the cancellation of the registration. Jang Jin-hyuk, CEO of Hyeongseol Publishing, was registered as a co-author of "Black Rubber Shoes," but it is believed that the disposition was taken as it was confirmed that he was not qualified as an author.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also ordered animation producer Hyungseol & to stop unfair practices and pay unallocated profits to Ko Woo-young, along with the results of the investigation that the contract over "black rubber shoes" was unfair. The investigation began in March when a related report was received in the artist's newspaper after the late writer Lee Woo-young's extreme choice, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained, "It is a reasonable interpretation of the business rights establishment contract to view not only the original fees but also the investment profits derived from animation as profits that should be distributed among copyright holders."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirmed that the "MOU for Transfer of Claims for Damage," which transferred all rights related to black rubber shoes to Hyungseol & in 2010 and stipulated penalties for violations, imposed unilateral obligations on the deceased, but Hyungseol & did not pay any price. We ordered the suspension of disadvantageous acts against the deceased by changing the contents of the contract," he pointed out.

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*This content was translated by AI.