This article is translated by AI company Flitto and Infostock Daily using neural machine translation technology.
SK Broadband - Netflix CI
[Infostock Daily= Reporter Park Sang-In] Netflix, a global online video service (OTT) lost the first trial of a lawsuit filed against local telecommunications company SK Broadband, saying it was not obliged to pay for the network usage fee.
The Seoul Central District Court's Civil Affairs Department 20 (chief judge Kim Hyung-seok) said in a lawsuit filed by Netflix against SK Broadband on the 25th that it will reject the non-existence of negotiations and reject the remaining claims.
Regarding the payment of network usage fees, the court explained, "In principle of contract freedom, whether the contract is signed or what price to pay should be determined by the contract," adding, "It is not a matter for the court to come forward and get involved."
In addition, the claim to confirm that the obligation to negotiate does not exist was dismissed, saying, "It seems that the profit to be gained by confirming that the obligation to negotiate does not exist is not recognized.
Earlier in 2019, SK Broadband filed a financial application with the Korea Communications Commission asking them to mediate network usage fees. In response, Netflix filed a lawsuit in April last year to the effect that it was not obliged to pay for network usage fees after rejecting the KCC's financial procedures.
Netflix claimed that its network management obligation is to Internet service providers (ISPs), that it is not obliged to pay network usage fees, and that demanding network usage fees for certain services violates the "Net Neutrality Principle" that prohibits content discrimination.
In response, SK Broadband has said that Netflix has a significant impact on traffic management, and that it has to pay for network usage fees, saying it is obliged to jointly manage the traffic.
Reporter Park Sang-In si2020@infostock.co.kr