April 20, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Korean online game developer NHN Entertainment and mobile game platform operator Kakao are caught up in an intellectual property dispute over games.

The two firms clashed after NHN Entertainment accused Kakao of plagiarizing its mobile game “Friends Pop” in October this year following its launch. 

Kakao’s game, called “Kakao Pop”, is in a three-match format, utilizing Kakao mobile emoticons called Kakao Friends.

NHN had hinted that it may push ahead with legal action, but on Nov.4, it said that it was not considering such moves at the moment.

The comments come after Namkoong Whon, the executive vice president of Kakao’s game division, wrote on his Facebook account the same day that NHN was undermining the mutual trust of their relationship with threats of a lawsuit.

The Kakao executive also said the release of the new mobile game has not breached any contracts, which he said allows Kakao to roll out a three-match puzzle game based on Kakao Friends or to partner with other companies, three months after the Friends Pop was launched.

“The release of the new mobile game is simply a part of Kakao’s efforts to upgrade the Friends-based games,” said the Kakao executive, adding he hopes to narrow the gap between both companies.

Meanwhile, NHN had filed a lawsuit against Kakao in May for infringing its game patent which allow users to see the rankings of their SNS friends on a mobile game app.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)