NFT 생성·거래 플랫폼의 OSP 저작권 침해 책임에 관한 연구

Abstract

Copyright infringement issues related to minting an NFT for copyrighted works are occurring. OpenSea, a representative NFT trading and minting platform (hereinafter referred to as the “NFT platform”), also delisted NFTs minting for Pepe the Frog from the transaction list due to copyright infringement notices, and copyright infringement issues related to minting an NFT were raised in Korea. The act of the NFT platform storing copyrighted works on its own server (website) is the same as that of existing general online service providers (hereinafter referred to as ‘OSP’). However, there is a difference between the NFT platform and the general OSP because IPFS, peer and blocks on the blockchain are not the servers of the NFT platform and are not controlled by the NFT platform. Therefore, it is very important to clearly identify whether the NFT platform is OSP under the copyright law. If it does not fall under the OSP, the NFT platform will not only not be subject to the OSP exemption from liability provisions under the Copyright Act, but will also have a regulatory vacuum that can not be held responsible for copyright direct infringement by users. Therefore, in the latter case, a solution is needed. In accordance with this awareness of the problem, in relation to the NFT platform, the liability for infringement under the Copyright Act and the liability for aiding under the Copyright Act are considered, whether the platform is subject to OSP under the copyright law, whether it is exempted from liability as OSP under the Copyright Act, whether it is technically possible to delete infringing works, limitations of imposing OSP liability on NFT platform under the current copyright law, and solutions for imposing OSP liability on NFT platforms. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to examine and analyze copyright issues related to the OSP of the NFT platform based on the technical analysis of the NFT minting process such as IPFS uploading of copyrighted works, hashing and encryption, hash of metadata, proof of works, and blockchain, and to explore solutions when it is difficult or impossible to impose the NFT platform liability.