Arya News - Broadcasters claim that while OpenAI has entered into paid licensing agreements with global media companies, it refuses negotiations with them.
SEOUL – South Korea’s three major terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, seeking an injunction to halt alleged copyright infringement and compensation for damages, according to the Korea Broadcasters Association on Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence service developed and commercially operated by OpenAI, was trained using the broadcasters’ news content without authorization.
In a press statement released Monday, the KBA said the lawsuit was filed “to hold the defendant legally accountable for intellectual property infringement,” alleging that the broadcasters’ news content, considered core assets and the product of their work, had been used in bulk without authorization and exposed through OpenAI’s services.
The association continued, “OpenAI is generating astronomical profits through its GPT services, and given that it has entered into paid licensing agreements with media organizations around the world for the purpose of developing and operating generative AI, it is clear that the company is fully aware of its obligation to obtain lawful and valid licenses in order to use news content.” It added, “Despite this, OpenAI has refused any negotiations with the three broadcasters and continues to maintain discriminatory copyright policies.”
The press statement continued, “In a reality where individual domestic creators and copyright holders face significant barriers to filing lawsuits against global big tech companies due to litigation costs and the burden of proof, the three broadcasters have filed this lawsuit to ensure that the rights of creators and copyright holders are protected and that fair compensation is provided — not only by domestic AI companies, but also by global AI firms.”
The association also emphasized that the case is fundamentally an issue of South Korea’s data sovereignty.
The lawsuit follows a previous legal action taken by the three broadcasters against Naver in January 2025, when they accused the Korean tech giant of violating copyright law and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. That suit alleged that Naver had used broadcast news footage without consent to train its AI models, demanding financial compensation and an injunction to prevent further use. At the time, the KBA described the case as a critical step toward establishing legal and ethical boundaries for the use of AI in journalism.
However, just months later, KBS publicly partnered with Naver. In July 2025, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding under which Naver would supply AI technology solutions to the broadcaster, while KBS would provide content and educational resources aimed at exploring next-generation media workflows powered by generative AI. As part of the agreement, the companies agreed to form a dedicated working group to integrate AI across the entire content pipeline, from planning and production to broadcast and distribution.