Round two: Magazine Allo vs. Style
by javabeans
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.
Since I’ve talked about this several times, I’m sure many of you are familiar with the issue, but to recap quickly: Round one between the two television productions began when Magazine Allo stole Style‘s thunder by announcing its airdate, which would precede Style by a month. Since Style (SBS) went to the effort of securing the copyright of the novel of the same name (oft-described as “Korean Devil Wears Prada”), they were suitably pissed at what they saw as similar storylines and character relationships; they sued for infringement and to keep KBS’s drama off the air. KBS strongly defended its story and writing, but postponed the premiere and moved the upcoming Partner up to air instead, while it took some time to sort out the mess.
Kim Hye-soo of Style
They had even written to Style‘s production last month to say that Style‘s plot seemed similar to Allo‘s script, and noted that this could give rise to a misunderstanding, and asked the other side to take note and amend accordingly to avoid this conflict. (Both sides had to present detailed descriptions of character relationships and plot developments last month to determine whether plagiarism had occurred.) Style did not comply with that request and instead publicly accused Allo of copying them.
The feud headed into round two when Allo came out in defense of its production last week, publicly releasing its character and plot information to prove that it did not plagiarize. It also emphasized the fact that after comparing the two dramas (plot development, characters, and structures), it was determined that the two were not overly similar. Furthermore, Allo producers are asking (demanding?) that Style stick to the characters and plot of its source novel, so as not to copy Allo too closely. They feel that Style deliberately created controversy to keep their competitor off the air and dirtied the reputations of Allo‘s producers and writers without a legitimate reason.
The producers of Style did not make an official response, but indicated that they would not comply with the demand to publicly apologize. Meanwhile, they have added sexy screen siren Kim Hye-soo (Tazza) as a fashion magazine editor to act opposite Lee Jia‘s reporter character. This will be Kim Hye-soo’s return to television following her 2005 drama Ballad of Han River; she has mostly focused on film roles in recent years.
Style starts filming June 8 and will premiere on July 25, following current weekend drama Brilliant Legacy. Magazine Allo also plans to begin filming later this month.
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Tags: Han Chae-young, Kim Hye-soo, lawsuits, Lee Jia, Magazine Allo, Style
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1 estelle
June 8, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Han Chae Young looks gorgeous!
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2 Alyssia
June 8, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Han Chae young is too perfect to be true. OMG can someone even be that pretty it's not even fair and she's so famous. Some people are too lucky..
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3 Samsooki
June 8, 2009 at 9:14 AM
This is getting complex.
From a legal standpoint, there may or may not be justifiable claims from a "stealing" standpoint, because the korean statutes that protect intellectual property rights are not exactly applicable here, I don't think. However, I would guess that they (SBS and/or KBS) could complain that they have suffered economic deprivation through tortious interference (my ability to translate is not so great, compounded with the fact I have only a superficial understanding of what these terms mean in korean law) is likely to be more applicable, but whether it can be proven is a whole other thing entirely. Most of Korean statutory law comes from Japan (who got it from the west), but its application and body of law is very Korean, and that makes it very difficult to predict what will happen).
Finally, legal claims aren't really what's at issue, is it. This squabble is about being recognized as the network that is going to bring a fashion drama to the masses, and so both networks have a great deal riding on public opinion. So I think making this squabble so very, very public is both networks' attempts at saving face. Asking for an apology (but not expecting it to be given) is basically a way to say, "it's not my fault!"
My guess is that if both networks continue acting like this, both might be seen as truly believing that it wasn't at fault. i.e., then it becomes "nobody's fault - just one of those coincidences." That's probably all that either side can hope for right now.
I just hope that one or both of the dramas are good. I am not that hopeful though (what's the story, give me a good story, not a bunch of really pretty people). Just be good. That's all I ask. I'll buy both dramas if they are good, and in a few years, nobody will care which was first and who copied from whom.
And does it matter, anyway? If all stories are derivations of other stories, then won't it come down to skillful directing, story editing and arrangement, editing, cinematography, sound, acting performances, casting, soundtrack, production values, etc.?
The biggest joke will be if both dramas end up being boring.... LOL.
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4 cosmopolite
June 8, 2009 at 9:37 AM
You totally wrote an essay, dude. lol.
But anyways, I was all for Allo since Han Chae-young is like perfect for the role. But now that Kim Hye-soo is on board Style, this is getting feisty!
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5 KOOKy
June 8, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Fashion drams all tend to be the same, they're all techinacally ripp off's of Devil wears Prada to begin with anyway. At that I don't think Devil wears Prada was that original (or very good) anyway.
Anyway love HCY but fashion drama are jsut too boring, evil models/evil editor v bright eyed small town girl..yawn.
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6 ar
June 8, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I agree with Samsooki that it would just come down to all the other things that make a drama great: directing, editing, acting, sound, production values. it seems as if Style doesn't have confidence in its own project if it was to feel threatened by Magazine Allo. And the Allo producers seem more confidant of its own project- seeing as they postponed the premiere- which will also give them more time to fine-tune the drama.
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7 Jessica
June 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM
@ estelle
She does, but I like Han Chae-young's ditzy, Choon-Hyang look more. Whenever she's all glammed up she reminds me of her Autumn Tale character.
* * *
And *THIS* bickering needs to be a drama series!
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8 jdb
June 8, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Putting our self in their shoes, what the hek they haven’t even given us the material to judge if its worth to watch. They are just making this up to stir controversy for rating purposes. Who cares who got the idea first as long as you have great material to relay upon? They are just basically… what? Playing a victim… for what? Audience sympathy…lol.
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9 omo
June 8, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Now this is really funny.
This fashion theme is done to death. In case you PDs, writers, execs, etc haven't noticed....Cinderella Man is already a flop. Ratings were worse than documentaries, what more do you want?
Because of these silly fights, I am willing these dramas to fail, flip and flop big time.
@ 7 Jessica : And *THIS* bickering needs to be a drama series!
Agreed. We could all use a good comedy for 2009.
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10 le
June 8, 2009 at 1:20 PM
is Kim Ha Neul still in Allo? cause then i definitely like Allo's cast better. i think the success of the drama mainly depends on the script writer but they still might screw it up towards the middle like East Of Eden or Boys Over Flowers.
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11 coolsmurf
June 8, 2009 at 6:41 PM
combine the shows and show it on mbc...
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12 dogstar
June 8, 2009 at 8:11 PM
messy, messy,,messy.. hahaha
Style should calm down, as if what they were doing was original to start off with... I would've rather Hye Soo unnie to be part of Allo, since Style producers sound like such douchebags...
Are Kim Hanuel & Han Chae Young still involved with Allo? I really want to watch that drama now~~
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13 jiawern
June 8, 2009 at 9:06 PM
yo coolsmurf, i'm totally agree with you!
by doing so , it will avoid a many few conflict..
He He...
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14 Angela
June 8, 2009 at 9:19 PM
This keeps getting funnier and funnier. I want them both to air at the same time so some dual-mocking can occur, and then bored drama fans can list all their similarities and differences and start a pseudo fashion war.
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15 smile
June 9, 2009 at 7:42 AM
I'm watching Allo for sure!
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16 Vhuie
June 19, 2009 at 6:18 PM
If KBS got a permision from the creator and production of "The Devil Wears Prada" to make a drama with a similar concept then by all means they have the right to do so. SBS doesn't have the right to stop KBS from making their drama if the KBS got a go signal. SBS should double check and confirm the case with the "The Devil Wears Prada" producer (Wendy Finerman), writter (Lauren Weisberger) and production company (20th Century Fox) if indeed KBS was given a right to make a drama with the same concept based on the "The Devil Wears Prada" movie and it's the producer (Wendy Finerman), writter (Lauren Weisberger) and production company (20th Century Fox) should be filing for a plagiarism case and not the SBS if KBS wasn't given a right for the concept. Because it wasn’t based on the drama “Style” but of the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”.
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17 Sada
June 25, 2009 at 2:13 AM
Love Kim Hye-soo, but will eventually watch both...if they're not copying one another, of course. Ha ha!
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