A recent civil case in the Seoul District Court, Covington Fabrics Corporation v. The Taihan Textile Co., recognized the existence of the copyright in a fabric design which it had found to be both creative and artistic and ordered an injunction and the payment of damages. This is apparently the first time that the courts in Korea have recognized copyright protection for fabric designs and is in direct conflict with cases in which attempts have been made to enforce the criminal provisions of the copyright law in respect of such fabric designs. Prior criminal cases have held that there is no copyright protection for such designs on the basis that designs are created for "mass industrial production" and thus the appropriate means of protection was by means of the design law rather than copyright law. It is understood that both of the conflicting civil and criminal cases are likely to be appealed and quite possibly the issue will ultimately be referred to the Korean Supreme Court.