Lineage 3's Code Stolen Issue Ends, TERA to Be Released as Planned

The heatedly-discussed lawsuit concerning Lineage 3's code disclosure issue has come to an end, which causes another stir. After proceedings at second instance, the Korean court has maintained the court decision made at first instance. That is, defendants were found guilty of disclosure of Lineage 3's technical secrets, and certain defendants' sentences were even enhanced.

The verdict of guilty reached at first instance was maintained.

On Dec. 23, Seoul Central District Court handed down the same sentence pronounced at first instance on the vice development director of Bluehole Studio - Mr. Park who had tried to disclose Lineage 3's business secrets to a famous Japanese game company during his tenure in NCsoft. Specifically, Mr. Park was sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of one and a half years with a 2-year suspension of execution, and Mr. Bae was sentenced to an 8-month imprisonment with a 2-year suspension of execution. But Mr. Yo and Mr. Kang were punished more heavily with a fine of 10 million Wons instead of 7 million Wons decided at fist instance.

The judge at second instance expressed that Lineage 3 undergoing years of development was a valuable asset possessed by NCsoft, so the verdict of innocence was hard to be rendered. But in view of the defendants' repentance, the 2-year suspension of execution was maintained as well.

Whether TERA will be trapped in the lawsuit or not is still unknown, but it's certain that it'll be pushed into the market next year.

According to the judge, the issue that the defendants left NCsoft along with Lineage 3 related materials and established a new company for new game development could be brought to a civil court. Since the vice development director of Bluehole Studio, Mr. Park, was placed under two years' probation, TERA's operation schedule in the first half of 2010 will not be greatly affected.