The Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange said the overseas trademark rights to Fanomenon, a global K-pop festival scheduled for December next year, will be transferred to a dedicated entity that will run the event. The statement came after media reports said JYP Entertainment holds the overseas rights alone. The committee is co-chaired by Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young and JYP Entertainment producer Park Jin-young.
In an explanatory statement on the 25th, the committee said JYP Entertainment filed for the domestic trademark first, immediately after the committee's launch ceremony, in order to secure and lock in rights to the Fanomenon brand quickly. "To establish the public-private partnership structure that is the original purpose of the project, 50% of the trademark stake was transferred to the government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, converting it into a joint filing," the committee said. "The remaining stake held by JYP Entertainment will also be transferred in full to a dedicated entity to be established to run the main event."
On the overseas trademark rights that triggered the controversy, the committee said JYP Entertainment is currently going through the filing process first in order to secure rights quickly in overseas markets. "This will also be transferred to the dedicated entity that will run the event, and the specific method of dividing authority will be determined through consultation after the overseas filing process is completed," it added.
The committee said the government and the committee plan to push ahead with the project after thoroughly putting in place institutional safeguards to ensure public accountability, including reinvestment of revenue from operating the event.
A media outlet had earlier reported that the Fanomenon trademark was filed by JYP Entertainment, the agency of co-chair Park Jin-young, rather than by the committee. It said the domestic trademark rights are shared with the culture ministry but that JYP Entertainment ended up holding the overseas rights alone, and it argued that private ownership of the overseas trademark rights to a festival funded by the government budget is inappropriate.
Fanomenon, a large-scale K-culture festival whose name combines "fan" and "phenomenon," is scheduled to run from Dec. 2 to Dec. 12, 2027, at venues including Seoul Arena in Changdong, Seoul, and KINTEX in Goyang. The committee, which bills the festival as a Korean version of Coachella, expects 520,000 visitors and an economic impact of more than 1 trillion won ($720 million).
The government again stressed that the event is entirely private-sector led. The culture ministry said it has earmarked 15 billion won in next year's budget to support the spread of K-culture in connection with Fanomenon, but that this is indirect support for tourism promotion and assistance for participating small and medium-sized enterprises, not funding for staging the event itself.
