South Korea's Supreme Court has rejected Nexon's copyright infringement allegations against Dark and Darker developer Ironmace, allowing development to continue uninterrupted. The ruling, delivered by Justice Park Young-jae, dismissed requests to shut down the game and rejected all appeals from both parties. Ironmace must still pay 5.7 billion Korean Won for trade secret violations but received a partial refund.
The Supreme Court ruling on May 1 marks a significant victory for Ironmace in its long-running dispute with Nexon. Justice Park Young-jae dismissed claims that Dark and Darker, a hardcore fantasy PvPvE dungeon-crawler, infringed on Nexon's project known as P3. Nexon's bid to take the game offline was rejected outright, clearing the path for ongoing development without fear of shutdown, as Ironmace community manager Jay explained on the game's Reddit page. All appeals have been denied, putting the copyright issue to rest. However, the court upheld findings on trade secret misuse by former Nexon staff who joined Ironmace. Ironmace has been ordered to pay 5.7 billion Korean Won—about £2.84 million—reduced from a prior 8.5 billion Korean Won high court decision. This results in a 2.8 billion Korean Won refund, alongside cuts to legal costs from 80 percent to 40 percent and the lifting of all injunctions. A separate criminal case between the two companies continues in South Korea. In a statement to Inven, Ironmace affirmed its intent to prove innocence in the trial, citing the inability to access certain data until the appellate ruling under the Criminal Procedure Act.
