After what feels like years of waiting for a response from Ironmace Studios, we finally have one. Ok, fine, I know it’s only been one month. For those who have not heard yet, Nexon filed a DMCA to Valve to get them to take Dark and Darker off the Steam Store due to copyright claims against Nexons canned project ‘P3’.
Ironmace has lawyered up, and they have responded to the DMCA claim laid against them by sending a letter to Valve. Greenberg Glusker, the legal firm hired by Ironmace, have said that the claims made by Nexon “are nothing more than anti-competitive bully tactics designed to put a small indie firm out of business.”.
While I’m not entirely surprised that this is the stance Ironmace is taking – I’ve felt from the start that this is an underdog kind of story – they do seem like they have a leg to stand on, or more correctly, Nexon doesn’t, according to Greenberg.
In the letter to Valve, Greenberg Glusker is asking Valve to add Dark and Darker back to the Steam Store. “We respectfully implore Valve not to give in to Nexon’s threats and to instead respect the creative ingenuity of a young gaming studio that has put out a product that is already loved by hundreds of thousands of fans,” says the law firm. They claim that utilising similar assets is the nature of the beast. Mentioning how exploring any mediaeval dungeon in any game that features in the genre will always come with “reanimated skeletons, trolls and spiders” and that beyond the use of these similar assets, the concepts, genres and “plans” that Nexon is fighting for are not something that can actually be copyrighted.
Greenberg says that Nexons real issue is with their ex-employees, specifically Ju-Hyun Choi, who have left the company and started their own, and as such, their fight should be with them and not with the game Ironmace are developing. Anything related to the fight between Nexon and Ju-Hyun Choi should be treated as separate instances, and, even if it has been over two years, Ju-Hyun is found to be guilty of anything against Nexon, it should not be related to Dark and Darker.
Issuing the letter to Valve means we will finally see some movement on the case. According to the Copyright Alliance, Valve has to send this letter to Nexon, who will have up to 14 days to respond, either by allowing the game back onto the Steam platform or taking it further in the courtroom.
Do you think Nexon will back off a little after being issued with the counter letter, or are they in it for the long run?