The South Korean Supreme Court has put an end to the multi-year civil dispute between Nexon and Ironmace regarding the multiplayer action RPG Dark and Darker. According to local media reports, on April 30, the court rejected appeals from both sides, effectively upholding previous decisions by lower courts and securing a partial victory for Nexon.
The conflict began in 2021 when Nexon accused former employees of leaking source code and assets from an internal project codenamed P3. According to the company, this data was used in the development of Dark and Darker, which became the basis for accusations of copyright infringement and illegal use of trade secrets.
During the proceedings, the courts recognized that project P3 indeed falls under copyright protection. However, the similarity between it and Dark and Darker was deemed insufficient to establish direct copyright infringement. It was also determined that Nexon's source code and files constitute trade secrets, and Ironmace violated these rights during the development of its game.
The Supreme Court fully supported these findings and ordered Ironmace to pay Nexon 5.7 billion won (approximately $3.84 million) in compensation. However, the request to shut down Dark and Darker was not granted — the game will continue to function.
Ironmace was dissatisfied with the outcome of the civil process. The studio announced its intention to continue fighting to "prove its innocence" within the ongoing criminal case. The developers also called the court's findings on trade secret infringement contradictory and claim they have evidence that was not considered due to procedural limitations.