Three Key Keywords for Overseas Copyright Protection Trends in the First Half of 2025

By Lee Sunmi Copyright Disputes and Interpretations through Case Studies 

1. Introduction

Today’s rapid technological advancements have led to a surge in copyright infringements, which occur quickly and diversely worldwide. To address this issue, countries worldwide are actively exploring and implementing countermeasures tailored to their specific needs. These efforts have been combined to summarize the overseas copyright protection trends in the first half of 2025, focusing on three key keywords.

2. Copyright and the Economy

In his inaugural address on June 4th, President Lee Jae Myung declared, “Korea will become a cultural powerhouse and rank among the top five global soft powers by redefining the global standard for content through proactive support of culture and the arts.” The Presidential Committee on Policy Planning urged the government to achieve a KRW 300 trillion K-culture market, KRW 50 trillion in cultural exports, and a place among the top five global soft powers during President Lee's term, as stated in its June 18th Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) business report.¹⁾

The copyright industry is recognized as a key driver of economic growth not only in Korea but worldwide, with countries publishing analytical reports to measure its economic contribution.

A representative report, “U.S. Copyright Industry Report 2024,” indicated that the nominal added value of the entire copyright industry in 2023 will reach USD 3.369 trillion, which is equivalent to 12.31% of the total U.S. GDP. In terms of employment, the U.S. copyright industry will employ approximately 21.14 million people as of 2023, representing 9.91% of the total U.S. workforce.

The average salary of key workers in the U.S. copyright industry is approximately 50% higher than the national average, indicating that it is generating quality jobs.²⁾

Based on the Bank of Korea's 2024 copyright trade balance, a total of $3.36 billion (KRW 4.9 trillion) was reported by the industry, marking a 29% increase from the previous year.³⁾

The copyright industry has established itself as a driving force for economic growth worldwide, a role that will intensify as AI technology advances, which is a topic that will be explored later. Therefore, we must foster the copyright industry while also designing more precise copyright protection policies to support its growth trajectory.

3. AI and Copyright
The most pressing copyright topic in the first half of the year was undoubtedly AI. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) refers to AI that generates text, images, audio, and video based on specific user input (prompts).⁴⁾  There was a remarkable surge in case law during the first half of this year, with a focus on copyright infringement of content used for learning during the GAI development phase.

For instance, in February 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled in the first case on fair use in relation to AI learning. The court ruled that the plaintiff's “headnotes” were copyrightable, the defendant’s “bulk memo” was substantially similar to the plaintiff’s headnotes, and the defendant’s collection of information for AI learning did not qualify as “fair use” under copyright law.

Conversely, in June 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that AI model training constituted fair use (the Anthropic case). Two days later, another judge in the same court issued a ruling (the Meta case).

In the Anthropic case, the court deemed Anthropic’s illegal acquisition of printed books for model training, and its scanning and digitizing them, as fair use, while it did not approve the downloading and preservation of pirated versions of books. In the Meta case, however, the court found that Meta’s use of “shadow library” to download and use pirated versions of books could be justified as part of the transformative use for model training.⁵⁾

Thus, the GAI-related case decisions from the first half of this year primarily addressed whether the copyrighted works used in the training process violated copyright, and many cases appeared to be contradictory. Nevertheless, these cases are still pending appeals, making it difficult to treat them as final judgments, so the appellate court's decision should be carefully examined.⁶⁾

Our copyright law includes fair use provisions, similar to the U.S. Copyright Act.⁷⁾  In June of this year, the MCST and the Korea Copyright Commission (KCC) published the “Guide to Preventing Copyright Disputes Arising from Generative AI Results” and the “Guide to Copyright Registration for Works Using Generative AI,” thereby establishing standards.

4. Copyright Protection Efforts Around the World

As previously discussed, the copyright industry serves as a key driver of future economic growth. Accordingly, efforts to protect copyright are being reinforced worldwide.

A prime example is in 2005, when China launched a targeted crackdown on online copyright infringement called the “Jian Wang (Sword Net) Campaign.” It announces key online copyright protection initiatives and reinforces management and supervision on a yearly basis. Consequently, China’s digital cultural industry expanded markedly, rising from CNY 38.94 billion in 2010 to CNY 325.85 billion in 2019.⁸⁾  This year, China intends to extend its inspection and online enforcement from May to November.

Japan is tackling online piracy with a highly systematic and multilateral roadmap. On May 30th of this year, the Japanese government established the “Comprehensive Countermeasures Menu and Progress Schedule for Online Piracy,” a multifaceted policy designed to protect intellectual property rights and curb the distribution of pirated content.

A comprehensive roadmap is being implemented through collaboration among seven ministries, private organizations, and platform operators. This approach combines education and guidance, international cooperation, technical response, platform regulation, and improvements to the private ecosystem beyond a solely enforcement-focused model.⁹⁾ 

On May 27th of this year, Thailand approved a new intellectual property (IP) enforcement framework to strengthen IP enforcement while pursuing removal from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Watch List. The framework includes provisions to amend Thailand's copyright law in accordance with the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty and to strengthen protections for audiovisual producers and creators. The changes, slated to take effect in 2027, aim to address software and online piracy and guarantee fair compensation for rights holders. Thailand is poised to begin formal tariff negotiations with the U.S. now that the enforcement framework is in place.¹⁰⁾

As the copyright industry emerges as a key driver of economic growth worldwide and faces the new challenges posed by AI, Korea must proactively revise its legal framework for the AI era. It should explore multilateral and effective protection strategies, drawing on diverse international examples to ensure the sustainable growth of K-content.

※ Please note that this article is based on the contributor's insights on overseas copyright protection trends observed during the first half of 2025.

1) The Lee Jae Myung government proposes a “cultural powerhouse,” …. “Focusing on policies to strengthen the creative foundation" (Hankyoreh, June 26, 2025).

2) Yim Sojin, Research Fellow, the Korea Institute of Intellectual Property, “Main Findings and Implications of the US Economy Copyright Industry Report 2024,” Overseas Copyright Protection Trends in the First Half of 2025 (Volume 43), Korea Copyright Protection Agency (2025).

3) “Compilation Outcome of Korea's Knowledge Service Trade Statistics (2010-2014)” (Bank of Korea press release, March 19, 2025).

4) “Guide to Preventing Copyright Disputes Arising from GAI,” Korea Copyright Commission (2025).

5) Lee Ilho, Research Professor, Yonsei University Law School, “The Northern District Court of California Rules ‘AI Model Training Constitutes Fair Use,’” Overseas Copyright Protection Trends in the First Half of 2025 (Volume 43), Korea Copyright Protection Agency (2025). 

6) Lee Ilho, Research Professor, Yonsei University Law School, “The Northern District Court of California Rules ‘AI Model Training Constitutes Fair Use,’” Overseas Copyright Protection Trends in the First Half of 2025 (Volume 43), Korea Copyright Protection Agency (2025).

7) Article 35-5, Copyright Act

8) Four government ministries, including the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC), launch the “2023 Sword Net Campaign,” KCC Overseas Office News (No. 2023-76), Korea Copyright Commission (KCC) (2023).

9) Professor Jang Yeyoung, Faculty of Law, Tokyo University, Japan, “Japan: Comprehensive Roadmap Update on Internet Piracy,” Overseas Copyright Protection Trends in the First Half of 2025 (Volume 43), Korea Copyright Protection Agency (2025).

10) “Thailand Pushes to Remove Itself from the Intellectual Property Watchlist Ahead of Trade Negotiations with the US” (AIF ASEAN, May 30, 2025, News Briefing).