Character Design Rights and Copyright: How to Protect Them
pine patent
August 15, 2024
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As the digital content industry continues to grow rapidly, characters have evolved from mere images to significant commercial assets, serving as powerful connections between brands and consumers. Consequently, character design rights and copyrights require distinct protection strategies based on their nature and intended use. For instance, animated characters and emoticons serve different purposes and require differentiated protection. To better understand this, let's explore the cases of the animated character Tinipang and the emoticon platform Kakao Emoticons.
SAMG Entertainment's animated series Catch! Tinipang has achieved significant commercial success both domestically and internationally. The 2024 film Love's Hatchuping was a box office hit during the holiday season, generating substantial revenue not only from the movie itself but also from merchandise sales, including collaborations with brands like GS Retail and various food and beverage companies. These partnerships resulted in a wide range of promotional products, further boosting revenue.
SAMG Entertainment primarily protects its characters through copyright and trademark rights. Catch! Tinipang features a variety of characters, each with a unique personality and storyline. These elements are more than just visual designs—they play a crucial role in strengthening the emotional connection with fans.
According to the copyright registration notice, SAMG Entertainment protects the Tinipang characters through copyright, which covers not only the visual design of the characters but also their personalities, stories, dialogues, and world-building. Copyright automatically protects these creative elements from the moment of creation, making it a practical protection tool for creators. This is especially useful in animation, where characters are depicted in various scenes, and copyright allows for easy protection of these diverse expressions.
Additionally, SAMG Entertainment protects the names and logos of Tinipang characters through trademark rights. Trademarks offer the exclusive right to commercially use specific names or logos, thus protecting the brand value of the characters. For instance, the name and logo of the popular character Hatchuping have been trademarked as part of the brand's efforts to secure its rights following the film's release.
Kakao has continued its growth and success through its emoticon platform, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. Emoticon sales have become one of Kakao's major revenue streams, and the company has built a symbiotic ecosystem with creators. Kakao protects its emoticons through design rights and trademarks, thereby safeguarding its unique character designs and maximizing revenue.
Kakao actively uses design rights to protect the visual designs of its emoticons, which are simple visual designs used by users to express emotions or communicate. Design rights grant exclusive rights to specific visual designs, preventing competitors from using similar designs. For example, if a particular emoticon becomes popular on KakaoTalk, similar designs might appear on competing platforms. Design rights allow Kakao to legally prevent the use of such similar designs.
In addition to design rights, Kakao also uses trademarks to protect the names and symbolic elements of its emoticons. Trademarks allow Kakao to exclusively use specific emoticon names or brands, protecting their commercial value. This becomes particularly important when emoticons are transformed into brands.
In conclusion, character protection strategies must be tailored to their specific nature and usage. For animated characters like Catch! Tinipang, comprehensive protection through copyright is appropriate, as it can cover not only the visual design but also the story, dialogue, and world-building.
On the other hand, for Kakao's emoticons, which rely heavily on simple and intuitive visual designs, strong protection through design rights is more effective. Design rights provide exclusive protection for specific visual expressions, playing a crucial role in safeguarding the unique designs that are valuable assets in the emoticon market. Thus, a strategy involving both copyrights and trademarks for animated characters, and design rights and trademarks for emoticons, is effective.
By employing protection strategies that suit each character, creators and companies can better safeguard their creations and maintain their commercial value. This approach is essential for the successful use and protection of characters in the digital content industry.
