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[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] A court ruled that Webzen's mobile multi-access role-playing game (MMORPG) "R2M" plagiarized NCsoft's MMORPG "Lineage M."
According to the ruling, Webzen, which has to suspend the R2M service, will appeal to prevent it.
The Civil Affairs Agreement Department 61 (Director Kim Se-yong) at the Seoul Central District Court ruled on the 18th that Webzen should suspend R2M's service and pay 1 billion won to NCsoft in a lawsuit filed by NCSoft against Webzen. The ruling is a quotation from all NC's claims.
R2M launched the service in 2020 as a mobile version of the MMORPG 'R2' operated by Webzen. NC filed a lawsuit in 2021, claiming that R2M imitated Lineage M, which they have been serving since 2017 in terms of content and systems.
Webzen is planning to appeal. Park Kwang-yeop, head of the game business at Webzen, said, "We respect the court's ruling, but we do not fully accept our position," adding, "We are taking swift legal action to prevent R2M's game service from being suspended." The industry expects Webzen to continue its service by seeking an injunction to suspend the decision to suspend the service with an appeal.
The winning NC is also preparing an appeal to increase the amount of the claim based on the first trial ruling. An official of NCsoft said, "The amount requested in the first trial is part of the amount," and added, "We will calculate and claim the total loss based on the sales of R2M."
It is expected to take a considerable amount of time for the two companies to reach a final conclusion as they are expected to have a legal battle until the upper court.
NC filed the same lawsuit against production company XL Games and distributor Kakao Games in April, claiming that "Archeage War" plagiarized its "Lineage 2M." An official from the game industry said, "Recently, even small and medium-sized developers were making mobile MMORPGs for high profitability, but it could be put on hold due to this ruling."
AlphaBIZ 폴 리(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
