The fighting is over for drama series Cinderella Man, which had been accused of plagiarism in May by the production company of another proposed drama. On July 24, nearly two months after the drama limped to its June 4 finale, Cinderella Man and its production company, Core Contents Media, got an official apology and retraction.

Back in May, production company LK had said in an interview that Cinderella Man had ripped off a drama it had been developing called Fashion King. Core Contents immediately countered the claims and jumped to defend Cinderella Man’s producers and writer, going so far as to sue both LK and the media source for defamation.

On July 24, the paper issued a correction, while Fashion King writer and representative Kim Ki-ho publicly stated, “After examining Cinderella Man, there is too weak of a basis for the claim, so it is not plagiarism.” And thus concludes this chapter in fashion-drama sniping.

Via Star News, No Cut News

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Allo’s Han Chae-young, Lee Jia and Style

Oh, I want Magazine Allo and Style to fight forever and ever, and keep the lulz flowing!

Their back-and-forth sniping is sorta going to meta levels, isn’t it? After all, would you really expect less of two summer dramas starring glamour queens and set in the backstabby world of fashion magazines?

The rivalry came into its second wind in the past week, when Allo’s producers defended their series, saying they did not plagiarize the other drama and accused Style’s director and production company president of creating the plagiarism rumors and interfering with Allo’s broadcast plans. They now want a public apology from the Style producers, and if one is not made, they have threatened to countersue for defamation and impeding business operations.

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Han Chae-young

It looks like KBS’s Magazine Allo (the fashion drama starring Han Chae-young, Kim Haneul) may not make it to air after all.

The drama is not canceled, merely postponed, but with plagiarism claims asserted by competing drama Style, KBS has decided to swap out Magazine Allo for a different drama, a law series called Partner. The show will follow current Wednesday-Thursday series Accidental Couple.

A representative from KBS’s drama department stated that legally they are clear and have not infringed on copyright, but they dislike being caught up in a fight over the matter. They’ll presumably give the matter more thought while Partner takes over the timeslot, although this may indicate that Magazine Allo is in danger of being dropped.

This is too bad, since I was looking forward to Allo much more than Style, even if the latter is based on a popular novel — I just can’t get past the casting (Lee Jia, Ryu Shi-won). Oh well, it’s not like I’m hurting for dramas to watch at the moment. Style will premiere on July 25 on SBS (it’s a weekend show).

Via Joy News, No Cut News

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See, now this is just funny.

First, fashion-world-centered drama Cinderella Man was accused of plagiarism by the folks behind the proposal for Fashion King. Then Style announced its casting and called itself the Korean Devil Wears Prada. Magazine Allo announced its casting and also made a reference to The Devil Wears Prada. Then Style accused Allo of plagiarism. And now Cinderella Man is suing Fashion King for libel.

(Do none of these people understand what copyright infringement even is? You can’t plagiarize an idea, people, just like you can’t copyright a title. It’s the content that matters!)

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Actor Lee Junki (Iljimae) has made nice with his former management agency, Mentor Entertainment. Both parties have come to an agreement following some unpleasant recent disputes.

In September, Lee had been sued by his former management company for violating his contract, to a tune of 500 million won (approx $400,000) for damages. Additional charges were brought in October accusing Lee of embezzlement. They claimed that Lee’s 5-year contract (signed in May 2004) held Lee exclusively to them and any monies he had made and diverted from Mentor (when he set up his own company) was embezzlement.

On the other hand, Lee said he had notified the company to cancel his contract in February, and that Mentor had done a poor job of managing his finances.

In any case, the legal wrangling has come to an end. Mentor has now withdrawn all lawsuits against Lee, and Lee has in turn dropped his countersuit. A rep on Lee’s side expressed pleasure at the favorable outcome, and while his statement seems a little too cheery to be true (”Through this process, the good relationship between Mentor and Lee Junki has been restored”), at least it means an end to ugly contract fights. It also clears the way for Lee Junki’s next role playing hero to the oppressed (again, although in a modern drama this time).

Via My Daily

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