NC files copyright lawsuit against Kakao Games... New title 'Rom' accused of plagiarizing Lineage W

NCSoft has filed a lawsuit against Kakao Games and RedLab Games. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) ROM, serviced by these game companies, is accused of plagiarizing 'Lineage W.'

On the 22nd, NCSoft announced that it submitted a civil complaint for copyright infringement and unfair competition against Kakao Games and RedLab Games to the Seoul Central District Court.

NCSoft stated, "We confirmed that ROM unlawfully copied the comprehensive system of Lineage W (selection, arrangement, combination of game components) in terms of game concept, main content, art, UI (user interface), and direction," adding, "This goes beyond the common and general characteristics of the MMORPG genre to a level where creativity is difficult to recognize, and we judged it as unauthorized use and plagiarism of NCSoft's intellectual property (IP)."

This is not the first plagiarism controversy regarding the Lineage IP. Previously, last year, NCSoft confirmed that Kakao Games' release 'ArcheAge War' had copied numerous contents and systems from 'Lineage 2M' and filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement and unfair competition.

In August last year, NCSoft won a plagiarism lawsuit against Webzen's 'R2M' for 'Lineage M.' At that time, the court ruled, "If such acts are not regulated, there is a concern that the game industry will no longer have a reason to painstakingly devise new combinations of game rules."

NCSoft expressed "deep concern over repeated unauthorized use and plagiarism of content," and stated, "We will continue our efforts and responses to protect intellectual property rights."

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