Posts Tagged ‘lawsuit’

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TERA Got Sued by NCsoft in the U.S.

January 26th, 2012

TERA at E3 2011

NCsoft and its North American corporation NC Interactive have submitted a case to a southern district court in New York province, the U.S.  for a prohibition of launching <TERA> in the U.S. as well as return of confidential information and a compensation claim on the 9th of January; the defendants of the case are Bluehole Studio and En Mass Entertainment, respectively the developer and the North American publisher of MMORPG <TERA>.

NCsoft has asserted that Bluehole Studio has violated the copyright on MMORPG <Lineage 3> which used to be ceased for a while as Bluehole Studio leaked core technology of it, also stating violation of business secrets, violation of Non Disclosure Agreement(NDA), unfair competition, and other reasons.

To help you understand this situation, NCsoft and Bluehole’s ill-fated relationship has developed since last 2007.

In 2007, NCsoft requested a police investigation over Bluehole for leakage of the business secrets of <Lineage 3> in Korea. In August 2008, it sued Bluehole for that <TERA> derived from its then next generation MMORPG and claimed US$5.8M for damage. In December of the same year, the prosecution charged five ex-<Lineage 3> developers for the leaked secrets.

In 2010, the Korean court ruled that the defendant’s firm is not guilty but the five are guilty.

But <TERA> in the U.S. has not even launched yet. Then why would NCsoft sue them there, not in Japan where the commercial service already started off? And why now?

Most of the industry officials deem that NCsoft is trying to interrupt the NA server which is scheduled to be open on May 1. Moreover, it’s drawing the industry’s attention as the lawsuit is taking place while a controversy over protecting copyrights, SOPA and PIPA for examples, is going on in the U.S. today.

Both companies are unforthcoming about the situation. “We are looking for a law firm in NA and will announce our official stance as soon as we find one,” said a Bluehole official. “Take this lawsuit as prolongation of the lawsuit in Korea,” said a NCsoft official.

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Webzen is Watching MUX of The9

October 26th, 2011

The9 Korea announced its inroad into Korean market and its stance on publishing <MUX> in Korea yesterday.

SoonWoo Park the president of The9 Korea said “We believe <MUX> is not a copycat since nothing but its name and a few posters is revealed so far. We probably launch its alpha test early next year. As its completion is quite satisfactory we could publish it in Korea if Korean gamers want.”

<MUX> has been introduced at China Joy 2009 and has provoked controversy over plagiarism of <MU> developed by Webzen and published in China by The9 itself. The9 explained the game that it officially succeeded <MU>’s spirit at the China Joy 2009. Moreover, it featured very similar music, character, item, and effects to what of <MU>.

Webzen therefore had filed a lawsuit for return of the trademark right against The9 in Korea and successfully won the case in 2010. But Webzen has not sued The9 in China so far.

Since The9 is their official partner publishing <MU> and <SUN> in China no matter what and they won the case in Korea anyways they don’t seem to want any more trouble between them.

The9 told Webzen last year that it will change the title <MUX> to <Miracle: Ultimate X> but nothing has changed so far in its homepage. It is still using the controversial logo title and the promised title cannot be found in anywhere. Even more, The9 keeps updating its development feedback to the site every month.

The9 officially announced its first test early next year. So let’s see if the title and how much of it would have been changed from its year 2009 version since they are so sure about it not being copied from <MU>.

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Posted in China, Korean Games Industry

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So What Should We Do about the Shutdown System?

October 21st, 2011

The shutdown system forcing gaming server down for children under age 16 from midnight to 6 a.m. will be effective from November 20.

The shutdown system targets all the PC online game serviced in Korea and the publishers should prepare special technical system to implement the law. However the government has not yet given any instruction to the game companies to follow.

The companies therefore are hesitating developing such programs because they might need to work all over again if they don’t meet the government’s expectation.

Actually some companies have worked on it already but they have shown different notices each other.

Thus the industry are speaking up that the government should hurry to provide clear instruction and standard in order to minimize the side effect arising from the adoption of the shutdown system later.

Korea Association of Game Industry(KAOGI) has requested alleviation on range of restriction and grace period to the government. “We have expressed our voices to the government. Particularly, we have requested excluding PC packaged games and flash games from the restriction range and allowing certain days of grace after the shutdown system takes effect.”

“We do not welcome the shutdown system because it is a quite shocking affair with strong symbolic meaning to the game industry. So the unconstitutionality lawsuit we have prepared so far will soon proceed,” said KAOGI.

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Chinese Cabal 2? Are You Serious?

August 3rd, 2011

ESTsoft’s MMORPG <Cabal>’s official sequel is coming out not from ESTsoft?

At China Joy 2011, Moliyo(摩力遊), a Chinese developer, introduced <Cabal 2> officially and showed its play at the booth. You can watch how it looks like at here.

Actually <Cabal 2> is illegal and unofficial sequel of Korean <Cabal>. Moriyo used to publish <Cabal> in China in the past and developed its sequel unilaterally without agreement of ESTsoft. So it is nothing related with <Cabal> at all. Moliyo also noted that it is independent title. Then why does it use the exactly same name and number 2 beside it, huh?

What is even more funny is that ESTsoft did not recognize its development until we reported it to them in July 2010. They said it was a shocking affair and they filed a lawsuit for Mariyo’s breach of publishing agreement.

The official MMORPG <Cabal 2> is currently being developed with CryEngine 3 by ESTsoft and was first introduced at last G-star.

The Chinese <Cabal 2> is scheduled to launch commercial service within this year in China. No plan for Korea is decided. Let’s see how it ends.

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Posted in China, Korean Games Industry

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KAOGI About to File A Lawsuit Against Shutdown Policy

July 14th, 2011

Korea Association of Game Industry(KAOGI) is currently preparing to file a lawsuit against shutdown policy for violation of the constitution.

The lawsuit will be led by 14 companies including Neowiz Games(the chief of the organization), NCsoft, Nexon, Com2us, and Gamevil.

It would likely be filed as late as in August with more participants.

KAOGI legally confirmed that the policy is likely to violate the happiness right, legitimacy and appropriacy in terms of excessive prohibition and minimum infringement. In addition, they also pointed out right to equality for it is not valid to foreign companies servicing in Korea.

KAOGI said “The shutdown lawsuit is to raise the game industry’s voice at the time of denouncing us as a harmful industry. Since the subjects of the lawsuit are members of the association the association will just convey the industry’s voice. Therefore the lawsuit will proceed seperately from the one by civic organization.”

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