Nexon Sues Dark and Darker Studio Ironmace for Copyright Infringement, Alleged Stolen Assets

mmorpg.com:

Nexon has filed a lawsuit in the US against Ironmace, developer of Medieval MMO Dark and Darker , for copyright infringement. Nexon claims its fellow Korean company stole assets from a Nexon project and used them in the creation of their game.

While the suit has been filed in the US, both companies are Korean. Nexon’s legal filings claim that, due to Ironmace marketing the game to American players and holding playtests on Steam, that filing here is justified. So the lawsuit continues, despite the game having been delisted from Steam due to these copyright allegations and a cease and desist from Nexon. 

As laid out by GamesIndustry.biz, two of Ironmace’s top employees, CEO Terence Seungha Park and Ju-Hyun Choi were previously employed by Nexon on a project codenamed P3. Choi was the project’s art director and P3 is similar to Dark and Darker , so that is what Nexon cited as their reason for suing. Other former Nexon employees are now at Ironmace, including half of P3’s former team, according to Korea JoonAng Daily, which covered a police raid at Ironmace last month, where they seized materials related to Dark and Darker and relevant to Nexon’s accusations.

That report also notes that P3’s team largely jumping ship over to Ironmace caused a substantial change in the production, which is now codenamed P7. 

According to the new lawsuit, “the individual defendants stole P3 source code, audiovisual, and other materials that Nexon developed through a substantial expenditure of time and money”. What they’re seeking is a return of all materials they claim were stolen and monetary damages (including legal fees). 

There is definitely more to come on this lawsuit, but Ironmace is continuing to maintain they did nothing wrong.