Will Naver gain exclusive use of the term ‘webtoon’ overseas?

While Korean webtoons enjoy new heights of popularity and gain global recognition as cultural content, the local webtoon industry is concerned that the use of the term “webtoon” may become exclusive for the South Korean internet giant Naver.

A type of web comic, webtoons are electronic cartoons and graphic novels that are read by scrolling down the screen, mostly on smartphones and tablet PCs.

Amid the successful adaptation of webtoons to movies, drama series and games, a controversy erupted after Naver Webtoon registered the name webtoon as a trademark in the United States in January and in three other countries -- Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan -- earlier this year.

The company wished to show it had no intention of threatening other webtoon companies and has not demanded them to pay up for using the word.

“Filing for (a trademark for) ‘webtoon’ can be interpreted as a defensive action to protect the trademark rights for the word against overseas companies,” a Naver Webtoon official told The Korea Herald Friday.

“In the United States, webtoon was already registered by an individual with a completely unrelated meaning from what we know as webtoon. The company bore expenses and costs over several years to take over the trademark rights. Applying for trademark rights was necessary, not only required the company’s international platform service, but also to protect the webtoon as a Korean cultural asset,” the official added.

Though it is in line with the steps taken for Naver Webtoon’s overseas expansion, the biggest webtoon company obtaining the rights does worry the late movers, according to the industry insiders.

“Naver Webtoon may not intend to monopolize the name, but other platforms are still worried about the trouble that may arise in using the name webtoon for their overseas services,” said an industry insider who wished to remain anonymous.

Even as webtoons are enjoying explosive popularity, they are referred to variously as web comics, web cartoons and digital comics by foreign media and content channels.

Seo Bum-gang, Korea Webtoon Industry Association chairman, believes that the overseas trademark rights of the name webtoon is a major issue in the globalization of webtoons.

“I personally believe that the next few years are an important time for Korean webtoons to attract the global viewers’ attention. Regardless of Naver Webtoon’s intention, its application for trademark rights holding back the globalization of webtoons will be the worst case scenario for the industry. I am worried only about that,” Seo told The Korea Herald.

“If Naver can alleviate other webtoon platforms’ anxiety by forming an agreement with our association or other webtoon-related channels, I think the growing concerns will come to an end. The name webtoon should be recognized as the proud cultural content of Korea, not a product or a brand of a company,” Seo added.

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)