In the ongoing legal saga between Nexon and Ironmace regarding trade secret infringement, Nexon secured a partial victory in the second instance, though, rather ironically, the damages awarded were slashed to 5.7 billion won.

The 5-2 Civil Division of the Seoul High Court delivered its verdict on the afternoon of the 4th. While the court largely upheld the initial ruling, it did highlight three distinct adjustments to its stance.

The appellate court kept the core of the original verdict intact. Copyright infringement claims were once again dismissed, yet the court remained firm on the fact that Ironmace had poached talent from Nexon and misappropriated internal data in violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

The scope of what constitutes a 'trade secret' has actually expanded. The court ruled that data, source code, and build files from Nexon's unreleased project 'P3'—previously deemed difficult to define as trade secrets—are indeed protectable. Consequently, the protection period has been bumped from two years to two and a half, tightening the legal noose around Ironmace.

Despite the court acknowledging a greater scope of liability for Ironmace, the financial blow was softened. The damages were reduced from 8.5 billion won to 5.7 billion won. The court stated, "We have assessed the contribution of the leaked trade secrets to Dark and Darker at 15 percent," adding that this calculation was based on more objective data than the previous court's assessment.