The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Actosoft on the extension of the exclusive software license agreement (SLA) signed with a Chinese company for ‘The Legend of Mir 2,’ but the developer Wemade, which co-owns the intellectual property (IP), has countered by citing its victory in an ICC arbitration in Singapore.
On the 29th, Actosoft announced that the Supreme Court upheld a lawsuit filed in September 2017 by Wemade, which claimed that the exclusive license agreement for ‘The Legend of Mir 2’ in China signed by Actos with Shengqiu in June 2017 was invalid, in the Seoul Central District Court.
In 2021, the Seoul High Court ruled that “considering the length of time that the license agreement has been in place, the position, influence, and know-how of the licensee, it is a more stable and efficient option for Actos to maintain the existing contractual relationship rather than seek a new contractual partner,” and the Supreme Court recently ruled that Actos Soft’s SLA extension agreement with the licensee is valid, as did the Seoul High Court.
However, WeMade, which owns the IP for The Legend of Mir 2, is fighting back, citing its victory in the International Criminal Court (ICC) arbitration.
Wemade has also filed lawsuits and arbitrations in the Chinese and Singapore ICCs challenging the validity of the SLA extension agreement, and in 2021, the Supreme People’s Court of China, the equivalent of South Korea’s Supreme Court, finally confirmed that the agreement was valid.
However, in the Singapore ICC arbitration, the arbitral tribunal finalized an award rejecting all of Actoz’s claims. In other words, while Actoz won the domestic lawsuit and China, the Singapore ICC arbitration was won by WeMade, and the two sides are still at loggerheads.
In fact, Whimaid tweeted on the 29th, “We have already won the ICC arbitration. As for the annulment action filed by Actos, the Singapore court rejected all of Actos’ arguments and confirmed the arbitral award, so there is no impact on the recognition and enforcement proceedings in China and Korea.”
“In addition, the ruling does not change anything about the 토토사이트 ongoing Legend of Mir IP business that WeMade is currently working on.”
The Legend of Mir 2 is an MMORPG game created and serviced by WeMade in March 2001 and became very popular in China in the early 2000s due to its oriental setting.
In June 2017, Actos signed an SLA with Shengqiu Games (then known as Shanda Games), which operated The Legend of Mir 2 in China, to extend the SLA until September 2023, but WeMade filed a lawsuit in September 2017, claiming that Actos violated the obligation of “prior mutual consultation” and abused its right to renew the contract and agency rights.
Since then, WeMade has consistently claimed that the SLA was invalid because Shengqiu Games violated the SLA by exceeding the scope of its authority by granting reuse permission without permission, and that Actos Soft extended the contract without prior consultation.