Worlds.com vs NCsoft: Not yet served?
Just to update you all on the progress of the Worlds.com vs NCsoft lawsuit (a patent suit that is pitched to spread to other MMOG and virtual environment developers/operators), the Korea Times reports on 31 December 2008, that NCsoft had yet to be served with notice of the suit.
There are essentially only two ways in which the notice can be legally served to NCsoft in the Republic of Korea to establish jurisdiction over NCsoft as a defendant. One is through formal diplomatic channels, and the other is via the Hague Service Convention. The HSC was established because of the enormous delays in using the formal diplomatic channels. There's a time-limit on the serving of notice, and formal diplomatic channels for civil suits often take quite a bit longer.
The HSC provides an alternative method for service of process, and the Republic of Korea (more commonly known in the West as South Korea) is a signatory to the convention. However, the convention allows the receiving country to establish certain requirements. In this case, the notice of service is not valid unless it is translated into the Korean language.
The clock is already ticking for Worlds.com and their representatives (General Patent Corporation). They only have a limited number of days to serve proper notice in order to establish jurisdiction over NCsoft, and without timely service and consequent jurisdiction, the suit may well go nowhere.
