Questions over who holds the trademark for Phenomenon Festival, a global K-pop event planned for December next year, have widened into a dispute over compensation for Park Jin-young, co-chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee. Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young stepped in to respond directly, calling the claims groundless. The trademark will be held jointly by the government and a corporation dedicated to the event, he said, and it is "unreasonable" to expect Park to receive no allowance even for basic duties.
Choi posted a roughly 4,500-character explanation on his social media account on the 1st, saying he wanted to lay out the facts in more detail after recent questions raised by some media outlets about Phenomenon. Some outlets and opposition figures had pointed out that the trademark application for the event was filed solely by JYP Entertainment, which Park heads, rather than by the Popular Culture Exchange Committee. Suspicions of favoritism grew after reports that the Culture Ministry and JYP Entertainment each hold a 50% stake in the domestic trademark, while some overseas trademarks are held by JYP alone. Critics argued it is inappropriate for a private company to own rights to the brand of a festival that draws on government budget.
Choi said those claims focus one-sidedly on the timing of the filing. "The Phenomenon trademark was filed on Oct. 1 last year, right after the Popular Culture Exchange Committee was launched, to secure rights quickly," he said. "The official name of the event had just been made public, so the committee needed to secure the trademark without delay."
He added that the committee had only just been established at the time and lacked not only an office but also dedicated administrative staff. "To protect the brand's rights preemptively, we took the interim step of having JYP Entertainment secure the rights first," he said.
A corporation dedicated to running the festival will be established within October, he said, and JYP Entertainment will transfer its stake in the domestic trademark to that entity. "The dedicated corporation will be set up with the four major K-pop agencies taking the lead, and we submitted a prior business combination report to the Fair Trade Commission in late March this year," Choi said. "On Sept. 17 we received final notice from the commission that it does not violate fair trade law, and we are now in the process of formally establishing the company." He added: "Once the corporation is fully established, JYP Entertainment will transfer its 50% stake in the domestic Phenomenon trademark to that entity. The remaining 50% was formally transferred to the Culture Ministry back in April, through a procedure changing the domestic trademark application to joint ownership with the government."
The overseas trademarks filed solely by JYP will also be transferred to the government and the dedicated corporation, in the same way as the domestic trademark, he said. "We filed for trademarks in the United States last November and in Japan in March this year," Choi said. "Once the overseas filing procedures are completed and conditions are in place, stakes in the overseas trademarks will also be transferred to the government and the dedicated corporation."
On the central point of contention — why JYP Entertainment handled the overseas filings alone — he said: "As the establishment of the dedicated corporation was delayed, the government also needed legal review before filing abroad. There was also the practical constraint that filing costs in each country are far higher than at home, and the related budget had not been set aside in advance."
He said the decision to share the trademark with a private-sector event corporation reflected an intent to keep government involvement to a minimum. "Whether Phenomenon succeeds depends on how actively leading K-pop artists take part and on how the event is planned and staged," Choi said. "The players with unmatched expertise and capability in this field are private companies, including the four major agencies. It is not desirable for the government to intervene here."
He also said no government budget goes directly into the festival. "It will be funded entirely by private money," Choi said. "The revenue model will be built on ticket sales, sponsorships, global broadcasting rights and exhibition booth sales, and all costs that arise will be covered by the dedicated corporation itself." The government has set aside 15 billion won (about $10.8 million) in next year's budget, which he said covers only "a budget to attract more foreign tourists using Phenomenon, which features leading K-pop artists, and a budget to help small and mid-sized companies across K-culture sectors take part in related events."
Responding to concerns that JYP Entertainment and the other three major agencies would keep all the revenue from the festival, he said: "We have agreed that all proceeds will be reinvested in the next Phenomenon." Choi said the Popular Culture Exchange Committee "will require public-interest guidelines each year on how Phenomenon is to be carried out, and the dedicated corporation must accept them to hold the event under the Phenomenon name — that is how we can keep it in check."
On the view that only singers from the four major agencies would appear at Phenomenon concerts, he said: "By capping the share of the four major agencies in the artist lineup at 30% or less, we have made room for artists from capable small and mid-sized Korean agencies to take the stage before domestic and international audiences." He added: "As for the dedicated corporation, which the four major agencies joined first, we plan to consider allowing other companies to participate later if needed."
He also asked for common-sense understanding about Park receiving some expenses while serving in what has been described as an unpaid minister-level post. "There have also been questions about Park's operating expenses for carrying out his duties," Choi said. "Everyone knows he is in a non-standing position and receives no salary or other compensation, but I do not think it is reasonable to say he should not even receive the minimum expenses needed to carry out his duties." He added: "Telling someone to use their own money while doing public work is a bit unreasonable, don't you think?"
Park Jin-young, co-chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, is scheduled to appear as a witness at the National Assembly's parliamentary audit of the Culture Ministry on the 7th, where he will answer questions about the controversy directly.
