"Dark and Darker" Ruling on 5.7 Billion Won in Damages Welcomed by Game Users Association [IT Item of the Day]

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[Financial News] The Korea Game Users Association said the Supreme Court of Korea's ruling issued the previous day in the case between Nexon Co., Ltd. and Ironmace was "an important decision that establishes fair competition order in the game industry and aligns with users' values of ethical consumption."
According to the game industry on the 1st, the Supreme Court of Korea finalized a ruling the previous day that Ironmace, the game company accused of leaking Nexon's unreleased project and using it to create "Dark and Darker," must pay Nexon Co., Ltd. about 5.7 billion won in damages for trade secret infringement. However, the court did not accept Nexon's claim of copyright infringement.
The case began with allegations that core resources from Nexon's unreleased Project P3 were used without permission after employees left the company to develop "Dark and Darker." Through this ruling, the Supreme Court of Korea made clear that even if Project P3 was an unpublished work, unauthorized use of it constitutes a violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act through trade secret infringement.
The association stressed that the ruling is in line with the growing awareness of "ethical consumption" among game users. During the "Dark and Darker" controversy, many gamers formed a boycott movement, citing the ethical background of the development process rather than the game's content itself.
In a similar case, Dynamis One's "Project KV" was also suspended after gamers strongly opposed it when allegations emerged that the project had used resources obtained by former Nexon employees while they were still at the company.
Chairman Lee Cheol-woo said, "The practice of using resources such as plans and ideas acquired during employment after leaving the company to make similar games has long existed as if it were an industry custom," adding, "This ruling will serve as an important benchmark to curb such misguided practices."
He added, "When IP disputes between companies lead to service suspensions such as injunctions, game users end up suffering the damage," and said, "Users will also continue to speak out through ethical consumption rather than allowing IP disputes between game companies to spread indiscriminately."
Meanwhile, the association viewed the rising number of lawsuits between game companies as part of the industry's maturation process, but also warned against indiscriminate litigation by large game companies backed by financial power. It said a balance between "legal protection of rights" and "freedom of creation" must be considered so that legitimate genre development and the creative drive of small developers are not discouraged.
wongood@fnnews.com Joo Won-kyu Reporter