It seems that Discord, a messaging platform not entirely reputable when it comes to protecting the privacy of its users, has finally grown tired of a South Korean video game developer trying to eradicate alleged copyright infringers on the platform, and has been protecting some of these account identities for several months.
In a lawsuit first reported by TorrentFreak, Nexon Korea Corporation claims that since May, Discord has failed to respond to a federal court subpoena ordering the platform to provide sufficient information to identify the users behind the alleged infringing posts. According to Nexon’s filing, Discord’s lawyers argued in correspondence between the two companies that the subpoena was overreaching and improperly required Discord to act as an enforcer of copyright for another company.
Nexon Korea is behind video games such as MapleStory, MapleStory2, Sudden Attack, The Kingdom of the Winds, Dungeon & Fighter, Grand Chase, and Elsword. It requested and received the subpoena from a federal court in Texas under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
This is not the first time Nexon has targeted Discord posts with takedown notices under the new Digital Millennium Copyright Act, according to a letter from Discord’s lawyer included in Nexon’s filing. The lawyers wrote that Discord had previously responded to a “broad and needlessly burdensome subpoena” issued in October 2023 and provided information related to 64 of its users.
Discord’s lawyers, from Haltom & Doan law firm in Texas, wrote in the letter: “We provided this information to your company on June 13, 2024.” “Now, it seems you are demanding additional information for further user identifiers, which are alleged to violate the same copyright you have already confirmed. You are trying to renegotiate a deal that has already been made and fulfilled. Your actions are inappropriate. Discord is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the law, but acting as a partner to enforce copyright rights is not one of them.
In the letter, Discord’s lawyers wrote that they were willing to file a request asking the court to revoke the subpoena, but Nexon claims that Discord did not do so in a timely manner. The game maker asked the court to order Discord to comply with the subpoena and provide identifying information about the “requested infringer(s).”
