Content Investment Grows, So Do Disputes—IP Contract 'Blind Spots' Exposed

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "artificial intelligence (AI)-based customized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items for each reader type.

1. Investment, Distribution, IP Rights Fragmented…Relying Only on Standard Contracts Invites Trouble

- Key Summary: Legal disputes over investment, distribution rights, and intellectual property (IP) are spreading in the content industry. This results from the increasingly complex issues of rights attribution, revenue distribution, and settlement after contract termination, as the structure in which multiple investors, producers, distributors, and platforms jointly utilize a single piece of content becomes common. The Seoul High Court is set to hold an appellate ruling on September 2 in an investment fund return lawsuit between Company A and Showbox, and an international contract dispute involving CJ ENM (035760) and a Hong Kong mold company also continues. The legal community pointed out that current standard contracts do not sufficiently reflect the increasingly complex investment and IP business structures, and that modular standard clauses tailored to each transaction type are needed.

2. SKT Helps Startups Verify Services with Proprietary AI Model

- Key Summary: SK Telecom said it will support startups with an application programming interface (API) based on its own artificial intelligence (AI) model. Participating in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' '2026 Everyone's Challenge AX (AI Transformation)-Large Language Model (LLM)' program, it selected three companies—Team Limited, Percely, and DevAll Company—as collaboration partners. Accordingly, SK Telecom will provide the A.X K1 API through the end of the year and plans to support commercialization verification in connection with its startup accelerating program. Um Jong-hwan, head of SK Telecom's Sustainability Management Office, said the company will expand the scope of use of its proprietary AI model through cooperation with startups.

3. KAIST-Nvidia AI Alliance Strengthens…Physical AI Center Also Established

- Key Summary: KAIST has begun developing physical artificial intelligence (AI) that understands human movement and intent, together with Nvidia. The two sides established the 'Human Physical Intelligence Technology Center' and will research technologies applying wearable robots and humanoids, aiming to build a human motion foundation model. It is the second cooperative body following the previously announced agentic AI joint research center, and they plan to expand the scope of research to manufacturing, shipbuilding, steel, logistics, and medicine going forward. Meanwhile, Nvidia will also operate research and education programs utilizing its virtual space construction platform 'Omniverse' and digital twin technology.

4. "Thanks to IBK, Which Didn't Take Away the Umbrella When It Rained, Our Sales Grew 10-Fold"

- Key Summary: A case was introduced in which Daelim Platech, a plastic pallet manufacturer, grew its sales more than 10-fold on the back of financial support from IBK. CEO Kwon Hyuk-bon took over management suddenly after his father's death in 2004, overcame operating fund shortages with IBK's support, and also received a loan for factory expansion in 2015. As a result, sales, which stood at 10.1 billion won in 2015, grew to 22.3 billion won last year, and recently the down payment for a new factory site was also secured with IBK's support. IBK's SME loan balance stood at 270 trillion won as of the end of June, an increase of 8.1 trillion won this year, and IBK accounted for 33% of the net increase in SME loans in the banking sector.

5. KB Kookmin Launches Remittance Service Using JPMorgan's Kinexys

- Key Summary: KB Kookmin Bank said it will launch a payment service for export-import companies next month using JPMorgan's blockchain payment infrastructure 'Kinexys.' This is the first time a domestic financial company has used Kinexys for export-import company payments, and it can be used at domestic branches and the Singapore branch. In addition, remittances are available to a total of 10 countries including the United States, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia, with plans to first support U.S. dollar (USD) remittances. Kinexys has processed more than $4 trillion in cumulative transactions, with an average daily transaction volume reaching $7 billion.

6. Used by 4 of Top 5 Banks…KT's Finance-Specialized AX Sails Smoothly

- Key Summary: KT said it will expand its finance-specialized AI transformation (AX) business combining data and artificial intelligence (AI). Based on its five-stage execution framework, the '5-Layer AX Full Stack,' it supports financial companies from strategy formulation to construction, operation, and advancement, and four of the top five banks were found to be KT clients. Accordingly, it won 22 AX projects in the financial sector in the first half of this year alone, building AI chatbots, sales assistants, and integrated data platforms in the banking, insurance, and card sectors, respectively. KT plans to pursue its business centered on its 'Data4AI' service, which converts corporate data into a form usable by AI, and its knowledge model 'K-Ontology' going forward.