- June 16: “3rd EU-Korea Copyright Roundtable” Held on the Theme of Artificial Intelligence

- June 17–18: Cooperation on IP Protection and Enforcement and Ways to Strengthen Public-Private Cooperation Discussed with Europol, the EU Observatory, and Others

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST) and the European Commission (President Ursula von der Leyen, EC) held three events in Seoul from June 16 (Tuesday) to 18 (Thursday)—the “3rd EU-Korea Copyright Roundtable,” the “EU-Korea Seminar on Cross-Border Enforcement Against Online Piracy and Counterfeiting” and the “EU-Korea Seminar on IP Enforcement: Addressing Common Challenges in Public-Private Collaboration”—to discuss copyright issues in the era of new digital technologies and explore ways to cooperate.

June 16: Sharing the Latest Policy Trends on AI and Copyright

At the “3rd EU-Korea Copyright Roundtable,” held on June 16, participants examined the generative AI-related copyright policies and systems that Korea and the European Union (EU) are pursuing or implementing, and discussed areas for mutual cooperation.

First, KIM Yong-soo, Senior Deputy Director of the Copyright Policy Division at the MCST, and Anneli ANDRESSON-BOURGEY, Digital Trade, Intellectual Property and Public Procurement Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security (DG TRADE), presented the latest copyright policy trends related to generative artificial intelligence (AI) in Korea and the EU, respectively. Next, AHN Sung-seop, Director of Public Domain Team at the Korea Copyright Commission (KCC), introduced Korea’s policy to facilitate transaction of AI training data, and representatives from the Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå (STIM), a music collecting society of Sweden, the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) shared private-sector copyright licensing systems as well as their approaches to content management using AI. In the general discussion that followed, Professor PARK Junu of Sogang University Law School served as moderator while participants discussing ways to utilize AI in the copyright sector in the EU and Korea and explored potential areas of cooperation for shared growth.

June 17: Discussing International Cooperation to Address Online Copyright Infringement

On June 17, the “EU-Korea Seminar on Cross-Border Enforcement Against Online Piracy and Counterfeiting” sponsored by the MCST and the European Commission and organized by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), was held as part of the EU-RoK IP Action, an EU–Republic of Korea IP cooperation project.

Angelo LONGO, head of Europol’s Counterfeiting Team; Johan GRAMMÉ, the Account Manager for Intellectual Property fraud at the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Finance; and Anthony MANUGUERRA, Team Leader of Enforcement at the EU Observatory, of the EUIPO, introduced the EU’s cooperative framework for IP protection and enforcement. HAN Seung-ho, head of Cross-Border Joint Operation Section of the Copyright Protection Division of MCST, and JEONG Beom-seok, Deputy Director of International Investigative Assistance Division 1 of the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) presented Korea’s experience in IP protection and enforcement and measures for international cooperation. The two sides then shared best practices in collaboration on IP protection and enforcement and discussed ways to further join forces.

June 18: Discussing How to Strengthen Public-Private Cooperation in IP Protection and Enforcement

In addition, the “EU-Korea Seminar on IP Enforcement: Addressing Common Challenges in Public-Private Collaboration” was held on June 18 as part of the EU-RoK IP Action to discuss ways to promote public-private cooperation ties.

Miruna HEROVANU, Executive Director of the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), and CHOI Itae, Director of the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), presented industry perspectives on the effectiveness of copyright protection legislation in Korea and the EU, respectively. Following this, Angelo LONGO, head of Europol’s Counterfeiting Team; Johan GRAMMÉ, Account Manager of FIOD from the Netherlands; Anthony MANUGUERRA, Team Leader of Enforcement at the EU Observatory; and Miruna HEROVANU, Executive Director of the AAPA, introduced best practices in public-private collaboration for IP protection in the EU. From the Korean side, JEONG Seung-pil, Director of Copyright Protection & Development Division of Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA), and Jay KIM, a specialist of Anti-Piracy Team at NAVER WEBTOON, shared their best practices.

CHOI Young-jin, Director General of Copyright Policy Bureau at the MCST, stated, “Since 2024, Korea and the EU have carried out an annual cooperation project for copyright policy exchange, sharing a range of copyright issues arising from new digital technologies, such as generative AI, and discussing solutions.” She added, “Through this year’s IP Action project, we discussed the desirable direction for AI-related copyright policy and strengthened the channels for cooperation between enforcement authorities of Korea and Europe. Building on this, we will expand the foundation for protecting K-content overseas going forward.”