A Comparative Legal Analysis to Inform the Creation of Economic Protections for K-Choreography
Keywords:
Choreography, K-Pop, soft power, intellectual property, cultural exportsAbstract
In the last decade, cultural exports have become a significant contributor to South Korean soft power and the economy. However, South Korea choreography, which has become a distinctive and internationally recognized characteristic of the multi-billion-dollar K-Pop industry and traditional forms of dance, lacks copyright protection. Various stakeholders are currently attempting to create legal protections for South Korean choreography. This paper offers a comparative legal analysis of copyright protections for choreography that exist in North America, Europe, Asia, and its current status under the international copyright treaty The Berne Convention. An overview of these protections is compared to the existing legal framework of South Korea. Recommendations are proposed for the development and implementation of copyright protection for South Korean choreography based on the comparative legal analysis.
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