Copyright infringement rights contract violation, service contract review for copyright protection essential checkpoint.
Article posted in 2025-02-28 10:19:57 | VEAT
Law firm Veat reviewed the copyright infringement and right contract violation at the request of an AI artificial intelligence company (hereinafter referred to as "customer").
The customer was providing services that create virtual figures using AI technology and combine them in various ways, and entered into a service contract with a specific company (hereinafter referred to as "counterparty") to develop virtual figure images and videos created by AI. However, circumstances were captured in which the counterparty was illegally using the development results without the customer's consent, and the customer requested advice on countermeasures to Law firm Veat specializing in intellectual property.
The important legal issue in this case was whether the development results of an AI-based virtual figure constituted a co-authored work and whether copyright infringement would arise if one of the co-authors used the results without the consent of the other. The contract between the customer and the counterparty stipulated that the virtual figure images, videos, and other development results created by the developer would be considered co-authored works by both parties.
A co-authored work means a work created jointly by several people whose individual contributions cannot be separated. In the case of such co-authored works, whether copyright infringement has occurred becomes an issue if one co-author uses the work without the consent of the other co-author.
“The copyright property rights of a co-authored work cannot be exercised except with the agreement of all copyright property rights holders.” This provision only specifies the method for exercising the copyright property rights of a single co-authored work for which the individual contributions of the co-authors cannot be separated, so even if a co-author uses the co-authored work without the agreement of the other co-author, it only amounts to a violation of the method of exercising the copyright property rights concerning the co-authored work as stipulated in the provision by the co-authors, and does not constitute an infringement of the copyright property rights concerning the co-authored work of another co-author (Supreme Court Decision 2024. 12.11 in Case No. 2012do16066).
We comprehensively reviewed the Supreme Court precedent to determine whether criminal responsibility could be imposed on one co-author who used a co-authored work without the consent of the other. In addition, we advised on the possibility of usage restrictions based on specific contractual clauses, even if a co-author used the work without consent.
Law firm Veat explained that it would be necessary for the customer to strengthen the service usage contract concluded with the counterparty in order to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future, and recommended preparing a contract that clearly stipulates the scope of use and ownership of the virtual figure development results and strengthens liability for damages in the event of a violation.
Law firm Veat provides expert legal advice in the copyright and intellectual property fields and operates a TIP (Technology.Intellectual Property) team.
The Veat TIP team specializing in intellectual property provides professional legal services, such as legal advice and litigation response, on copyright and intellectual property-related legal issues and disputes centered on future technologies and ICT new industries such as IT · software, NFT, metaverse, and games. The TIP team that reviewed this case supported the customer's legal problem-solving based on a deep understanding and abundant experience in AI-based service usage contracts and copyright protection.
If you have encountered legal issues such as copyright infringement due to unauthorized use of works related to development services such as copyright infringement, we recommend that you consult with copyright attorney Law firm Veat for expert legal advice.
The case study of this case can also be confirmed on the Law firm Veat blog below.
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