NCSOFT also lost in the appeal over its copyright infringement lawsuit against Kakao Games concerning "Lineage2M."
The Seoul High Court Civil Division 5-2 (High Court Judges Kim Dae-hyun, Kang Sung-hoon, and Song Hye-jung) on the 12th rejected the plaintiff's appeal in NCSOFT's lawsuit seeking to stop copyright infringement against Kakao Games and its development subsidiary XLGAMES.
The court said, "It is difficult to find that the plaintiff's game has reached a work with creativity and individuality that distinguish it from prior games."
The court also did not accept NCSOFT's claim that Kakao Games engaged in unfair competition. The court said, "There are parts (such as the scenario, characters, items, and user interface (UI) elements asserted by the plaintiff) that belong to the public domain and can be used freely by anyone."
It added, "Common rules, progression methods, and specific modes of expression of the two games cannot be monopolized by any particular person."
Kakao Games said, "We respect the court's decision and will do our best to ensure stable service of 'ArcheAge War.'" NCSOFT said, "We will closely review the ruling and seek another judgment through a higher court."
In Apr. 2023, NCSOFT filed suit, saying that Kakao Games' massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "ArcheAge War" copied the UI, the method of developing characters, and convenience features that assist play from its "Lineage2M," released in 2019.
Specifically, ▲ weapons and skills being limited by character class ▲ a system that synthesizes four classes of the same grade ▲ a system that collects multiple classes to complete a collection ▲ a system that grants rewards for completing quests (missions) assigned on specific dates ▲ a character disposition attribute system ▲ items within the game's settings ▲ and the basic screen layout are almost identical in terms of UI and system design.
However, the first-instance court in Jan. last year sided with Kakao Games. At the time, the first-instance court found that Lineage2M's system lacked originality. It said Lineage2M merely modified some rules from prior games such as Ragnarok M (2018) and V4 (2019).
The court said, "Even if 'ideas' corresponding to game rules or gameplay methods are recognized as original or novel, they are not subject to copyright protection."