Development on hardcore fantasy PvPvE dungeon-crawler Dark and Darker is free to continue without fear of being shut down, following a Supreme Court ruling rejecting allegations of copyright infringement from Nexon.
In a bombshell conclusion to the Supreme Court clash between Dark and Darker developer Ironmace and South Korean games industry giant Nexon, copyright infringement allegations were dismissed by presiding justice Park Young-jae, and Nexon’s request to take Dark and Darker offline have been rejected outright. All appeals from both parties have been rejected, putting the issue to bed.
The crux of this case, in layman’s terms, revolved around whether or not Dark and Darker infringed the copyright of a Nexon project called “P3”. By concluding there wasn’t any infringement, Ironmace is free to crack on with development on the game.
However, it’s not all good news for Ironmace: Nexon also alleged that its former staff (who’d go on to work at Ironmace for Dark and Darker), infringed on trade secrets. The Supreme Court confirmed a previous ruling on this matter, ordering a payment of 5.7bn Korean Won (roughly £2,841,860)
This ruling affirms the main points from a prior high court decision, though with some key changes explained on the Dark and Darker Reddit by Ironmace community manager Jay. While Ironmace has to pay 5.7bn Korean Won, this is a reduction from 8.5bn Korean Won which was already paid following the previous ruling. So, while Ironmace still had to whip its wallet out, it received a refund of 2.8bn Korean Won (roughly £1,396,190)
In addition, Ironmace’s legal costs have been reduced from 80 percent to 40 percent, and all injunctions will be lifted.
So is this the end of the legal battle between Ironmace and Nexon? Well, while this is certainly a major milestone, it’s not quite over yet:there’s still a criminal case raging in South Korea between both parties.
In a statement provided to Inven, Ironmace said: “under the Criminal Procedure Act, we were unable to verify such objective data until the appellate court ruling was pronounced […] We intend to prove our innocence to the very end in the ongoing criminal trial on the grounds that we transmitted Nexon’s data for illicit purposes.”
