The Story Behind Korea’s Laws: Your Guide to Korea’s Legal Pulse
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Nexon and the startup Ironmace are headed to South Korea’s Supreme Court in a long-running legal battle over the online game Dark and Darker, after both sides signaled they would appeal a recent appellate ruling.
According to the gaming industry on Friday, Nexon has filed an appeal against Ironmace, escalating the dispute to the country’s highest court.
The move follows a Dec. 4 ruling by the Seoul High Court, which ordered Ironmace and its chief executive to pay Nexon 5.76 billion won (about $4.4 million) in damages for misappropriating trade secrets, while rejecting Nexon’s broader claims of copyright infringement.
The appeals court expanded the scope of trade secret violations recognized in the case compared with a lower court ruling but reduced the total damages from about 8.5 billion won to 5.7 billion won.
Nexon and Ironmace have been embroiled in a three-year legal battle over the copyright of Dark and Darker. (Image courtesy of Ironmace)
Both companies had indicated they were weighing an appeal, and Nexon ultimately opted to seek a final judgment from the Supreme Court before the appeal deadline.
Ironmace quickly followed suit, announcing it would also file an appeal. In a statement, the company said it would continue the legal fight “to the end” to prove its legitimacy, expressing confidence that the Supreme Court would ultimately rule that it did not infringe Nexon’s trade secrets.
The company added that it had already received a refund of 3.4 billion won after the damages were reduced on appeal and expects all provisional asset seizures imposed earlier to be lifted.
The dispute dates back to 2021, when Nexon accused a former project leader from its internal development unit of leaking source code and data from a canceled game project, known as Project P3.
Nexon alleges that the materials were later used to establish Ironmace and develop Dark and Darker, a dungeon-crawling multiplayer game that has drawn a global following.
With both sides now appealing, the case is poised to become a landmark ruling on trade secret protection and game development practices in South Korea’s fast-growing gaming industry.
Jerry M. Kim (jerry_kim@koreabizwire.com)
