IU has been accused of plagiarizing the music of other artists and has been reported to the police.
According to Maeil Business, an individual, referred to as “A,” has accused IU of plagiarizing six songs from other international and domestic artists. On the 8th, A reported IU to the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul for copyright infringement.
The six songs in question are “The Red Shoes,” “Good Day,” “Bbibbi,” “Pitiful,” “Boo,” and “Celebrity.” Among these, IU contributed to the composition of “Celebrity” and the production of “Bbibbi.”
The accusation states, “Many of these songs are identical to the original works in melody, rhythm, and chord progression, especially ‘The Red Shoes’ and ‘Good Day,’ which show a high degree of similarity, even to the casual listener.” It also claims, “The introduction parts of all six songs, which set the atmosphere and identity of the music and pique the listener’s curiosity, are suspected of plagiarism.”
In fact, when “The Red Shoes” was released in 2013, it sparked plagiarism controversy for having many similarities to the German band Nekta’s “Here’s Us.” Nekta was aware of the plagiarism and sent an email to IU’s agency, Loen Entertainment, in 2013 to protest but reportedly received no response.
A stated, “There have been several plagiarism allegations, but the accused (IU) has not provided any clarification and even had the posts raising such issues for copyright infringement deleted.” They added, “In addition to this case, there are numerous copyright infringement issues, and we felt a sense of problem with the general public’s lack of awareness, unfairness, and the passive attitude of the judiciary in acknowledging copyright infringement and calculating damages, which led to this report.”
Copyright infringement is generally a complaint-based crime, meaning that the original creators must file a complaint for the case to proceed.
However, the law firm B, which represented A, explained, “According to the Copyright Act, ‘The crimes under this Chapter shall be prosecuted only when the injured party has made a complaint.'” They added, “It is undeniable that the accused seeks profit through her career as a singer, and considering the multiple instances of alleged plagiarism, it’s possible that such actions could be viewed as a pattern. Consequently, the accuser, despite not being the direct victim, possesses the right to bring forth these allegations.”
Regarding the accusation, IU’s agency EDAM Entertainment responded, “We encountered the news article today, claiming that we were accused of plagiarism by the police while we were waiting for the progress of the investigation. As of now, we have not received any official contact from the investigating agency and learned about the accusation for the first time through the news article.” They added, “We have not been able to confirm the content of the complaint mentioned in the media, and we are in the process of understanding it.”
The statement continued, “We would like to emphasize that spreading false information as if it were true and maliciously tarnishing the artist’s reputation is a clear illegal act and should be subject to strong legal action. Our company intends to proceed with strong legal measures without leniency in cases where criminal acts, such as repeated posting of defamatory and malicious content, or reproducing false information, are committed.”
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