The number of copyright infringement cases over the Internet fell since the early this year, as record labels put growing pressure on P2P Web sites. Copyright infringement at Webhard site remains out of radar, and the number is also increasing.
According to the Copyright Protection Center (http://www.cleancopyright.or.kr) of the Copyright Deliberation and Arbitration Committee, a total of 21,034 cases of copyright infringement was reported in the first half of this year.
Total of 3,747,213 pieces of materials were illegally copied, or monthly 624,535, which is a 28.6% drop from monthly 875,213 in the second half of last year. Illegal copying of music took a large chunk of the total at 3,415,039, followed by 133,695 of video and 198,569 of publishing.
1,085,998 pieces were copied over P2P Web sites, and Webhard became the No. 1 copyright infringement site with a total of 1,942,148. The center points out that the authorities must watch more closely transactions over Webhard.
"Monthly figures may differ depending on the direction and changes in crackdown strategies, but the number has steadily fallen on hard stance of copyright holders and growing awareness among Internet users," said Yun Jun-geun, director of the center. "We plan to use both sticks and carrots to further lower the number."
The center said that it found 118,536 pieces of music, video, game and book materials illegally copied in the first half of this year. It plans to concentrate efforts to prevent copying of DVDs and textbooks instead of music files, which have dropped significantly.