[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Korea Investment & Securities and Hanbit IA Holdings, which have been embroiled in a legal battle for nearly three years over the copyright of research reports, recently engaged in another courtroom clash regarding securities analysis programs. The previous lawsuit between Korea Investment & Securities and Hanbit IA drew industry attention as the court recognized brokerage research reports as copyrighted works. After losing the research report lawsuit, Hanbit IA launched a counter-offensive by filing a copyright infringement injunction suit over a securities analysis program, but the court ruled in favor of Korea Investment & Securities once again.
Hanbit IA, which operates the securities analysis and listed company information service 'EQUIT', lost the copyright infringement injunction suit it filed against Korea Investment & Securities. On January 9, the 63rd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Park Chan-seok) dismissed Hanbit IA's claims in the copyright infringement suit against Korea Investment & Securities. FnGuide064850, a competitor in the same industry, also participated in this lawsuit as an intervenor on the side of the defendant (Korea Investment & Securities).
Hanbit IA claimed that Korea Investment & Securities' Home Trading System (HTS) and Mobile Trading System (MTS) copied its proprietary securities analysis program. Hanbit IA had registered the copyrights for programs such as its "Consensus Chart," which displays a brokerage's target stock price, and "Digital Listed Company Analysis," which provides information on listed companies and stock-related indicators, and used them for its paid services.
Korea Investment & Securities had signed a data service contract with FnGuide in 2015 to receive corporate financial statement data and listed company information for its HTS and MTS. It also published data and charts that scored the investment opinions of brokerage firms on its website and HTS.
In response, Hanbit IA argued that Korea Investment & Securities' HTS (specifically the graph displaying target prices versus actual price trends) and MTS (specifically the sections for listed company overviews, financial information, and consensus data) were nearly identical to its own Consensus Chart and Digital Listed Company Analysis programs, asserting that Korea Investment & Securities used identical or similar source code.
Furthermore, Hanbit IA pointed out that Korea Investment & Securities' display of charts scoring brokerages' investment opinions on its HTS was an unauthorized use of "Corporate Report Investment Opinion Scoring," which Hanbit IA had registered as a literary work in November 2021. This service converts investment opinions published by brokerages into scores, allowing users to compare investment opinions at a glance.
Hanbit IA claimed, "The operation of Korea Investment & Securities' HTS and MTS constitutes an infringement of Hanbit IA’s copyright (rights of reproduction, distribution, and public transmission)," and demanded "the cessation of copyright infringement and the disposal of the HTS and MTS systems."
However, the court’s judgment differed. It found that the target price charts, screen layouts, types of information, and the order of information in Korea Investment & Securities' HTS and MTS were not identical to Hanbit IA's service. Additionally, it stated that there was no evidence to support Hanbit IA's claim of source code theft. The court also noted that since the information provided by both companies is based on corporate disclosure materials, it is inevitable that the content would appear similar.
Regarding the "Corporate Report Investment Opinion Scoring," which was classified as a literary work, the court ruled that it cannot be considered a subject for copyright protection. While the "expression format" can be protected by copyright, the method of expressing investment opinions as scores is considered an "idea" and therefore cannot be copyrighted in itself. The court did not recognize any similarity between the investment opinion charts on the Korea Investment & Securities MTS and Hanbit IA's service.
Hanbit IA stated that it gave up on an appeal as it could not prove similarity through copyright registration. The company filed for a patent related to the program last year and is waiting to see if it will be registered. Kim Seung-hwan, CEO of Hanbit IA Holdings, said, "We also have AI-related patents, and we believe it will impact the industry if registered," adding, "We are considering future legal responses due to worsening profitability and the burden of legal costs."
Regarding the outcome of this lawsuit, Korea Investment & Securities only stated, "It is difficult to share our position regarding legal disputes."
Meanwhile, Hanbit IA has previously faced a barrage of legal sanctions from brokerage firms over the posting and sale of research reports. KB Securities, NH Investment & Securities005940, Korea Investment & Securities, and Hyundai Motor Securities001500 filed for injunctions, alleging that Hanbit IA published and provided their research reports for a fee without authorization. Among them, Korea Investment & Securities and Hyundai Motor Securities even proceeded with lawsuits for copyright infringement in 2021.
All lawsuits related to research reports ended in victories for the brokerages. In September 2023, the Supreme Court confirmed the original ruling in favor of Korea Investment & Securities, and on January 13, the Supreme Court also ruled partially in favor of Hyundai Motor Securities regarding damages. Both rulings recognized completed research reports as works protected under copyright law.
Hanbit IA claims that the industry-wide litigation is backed by its market-dominant competitor, FnGuide. In September 2023, Hanbit IA issued a statement claiming, "FnGuide, which had been delegated the copyrights of research reports by major brokerages, filed civil and criminal lawsuits in 2005, all of which resulted in acquittals. However, starting in 2020, brokerages began filing lawsuits themselves over the same content. We found out that FnGuide is the entity that benefits if we stop posting research reports."
Regarding the current program copyright infringement case, CEO Kim Seung-hwan replied, "Korea Investment & Securities operates its HTS and MTS based on information provided by FnGuide," adding, "We filed the lawsuit because we deemed them similar to our own programs."