Court Grants Webzen's Request to Suspend Enforcement... 'R2M' Service Available Until Second Trial Verdict

Webzen, which lost the first trial in the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by NCSoft, has been allowed to continue the service of the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) 'R2M' until the second trial verdict.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 62 (Presiding Judge Lee Young-kwang) recently granted Webzen's request for a stay of compulsory execution, filed to prevent the suspension of 'R2M' service.

R2M [Provided by Webzen]

The court ruled, "The compulsory execution pursuant to the first trial ruling is stayed until the announcement of the appellate court verdict on the condition that the applicant (Webzen) deposits 2 billion KRW as collateral for the respondent (NCSoft)." Of the 2 billion KRW collateral, 1 billion KRW may be substituted with a surety insurance policy.

Earlier, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 61 (Presiding Judge Kim Se-yong) on the 18th ruled in favor of NCSoft's claim against Webzen in the Lineage M copyright infringement lawsuit, ordering that "the game provided under the name R2M shall not be used by general users, nor shall it be promoted, advertised, copied, distributed, transmitted, or adapted." This ruling came about 2 years and 2 months after NCSoft filed the lawsuit against Webzen in June 2021.

At that time, the court stated, "The game rules that already existed were modified or borrowed, so creativity cannot be recognized, or even if originality and novelty exist, they are not subject to copyright protection."

However, the court judged that Webzen copied the comprehensive system of Lineage M during the development process of 'R2M' and imitated it, infringing on NCSoft's economic interests, thus violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.