Netflix, a multinational audio and video streaming platform, refused to pay Korean SK Broadband's network usage fees and filed a claim to the court that there is no lawsuit. The Korean court ruled that Netflix lost in the first instance today.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the Seoul Central District Court today made a first-instance judgment on the non-existence confirmation lawsuit filed by the Netflix Korean legal person against SK Broadband.
The court held that whether the Internet usage fee-related contract was made in accordance with the principle of freedom of contract and what price should be paid should be determined by negotiation between the parties. It is not that the court should intervene in ordering to do or not to do. It asked Netflix to hope that the court would confirm The existence or non-existence of negotiation obligations and royalty payment obligations will not be accepted.
Regarding the confirmation of the existence of the negotiation obligation, the court stated that it could not confirm that the parties could obtain benefits after confirming the absence of the negotiation obligation, and therefore rejected it on the grounds of insufficient litigation conditions.
SK Broadband applied to the Broadcasting and Communications Commission for mediation in November 2019 on the issue of network usage fees with Netflix. Netflix refused to mediate in April 2020 and filed a lawsuit in the court.
Netflix previously claimed that Internet service providers have network management obligations, Netflix has no obligation to pay user fees, and the Internet industry’s request for certain service providers to pay Internet user fees violates the principle of network neutrality; SK Broadband retorted that Netflix sent the United States, When France Telecom pays network fees, it should also pay usage fees to South Korean operators.