Wemade wins in IP lawsuit against Chinese firms

2020.06.29 13:24:20 | 2020.06.29 15:31:06

[Photo by Wemade Co.]À̹ÌÁö È®´ë

[Photo by Wemade Co.]

South Korean game publisher Wemade Co. won a lawsuit against Chinese companies on the breach of software license agreement for its MMORPG label ¡°The Legend of Mir 2¡±, lifting its shares to a new intraday 52-week high of 43,800 won ($36.5) on Friday.

Its shares rallied for the fifth consecutive session until Friday and then lost 8.65 percent to finish at 39,650 won in Seoul on Monday.

According to industry sources, the International Court of Arbitration under Singapore¡¯s International Chamber of Commerce recently ordered three defendants led by Chinese gaming company Shanda Games to pay compensatory damages to ChuanQi IP, a subsidiary of Wemade, for using the intellectual property of its MMORPG title The Legend of Mir 2.

The Legend of Mir 2. [Photo by Wemade Co.]À̹ÌÁö È®´ë

The Legend of Mir 2. [Photo by Wemade Co.]

The software license agreement it signed with the defendants expired as of Sep. 28, 2017 and thus the name of the title and the right to use it have been returned to the Korean company, the court said.

Wemade filed a lawsuit against Shanda Games, Actoz Soft and Lansha Information Technology to confirm the termination and invalidity of the software license agreement and claim damages in May 2017.

The exact amount of damages, reportedly estimated at $500 million, will be determined in later hearings.

By Kim Jung-beom and Lee Ha-yeon

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