Netflix suit filed in April 2020 had sought declaratory judgments confirming that Netflix (i) has no obligation to negotiate network usage fees with SKB and (ii) has no obligation to pay any network usage fees. 

District Court decision of June 25, 2021 rejects Netflix arguments on both counts, ruling Netflix has an obligation to pay SKB for network usage (greatly expanding in recent years) – but stops short of delineating method or form of consideration. 

On May 21, 2021, the Korean National Assembly passed partial amendments to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (the “IT Network Act”).  The amendments were promulgated on June 8, 2021 in the official legislative gazette and will take effect 6 month after the promulgation.  

Famous for its global mega-hit idol group BTS, Big Hit Entertainment (“Big Hit”) made its debut on the KOSPI Market of the Korea Exchange, with its shares starting to be traded on October 15, 2020 at the stock opening price of KRW 270,000 per share, being double the IPO price of KRW 135,000 per share. Big Hit’s IPO was the largest Korean IPO in the past three years having been 1,117 times oversubscribed by institutional investors and 607 times

Korean government has named tentative group of six online content providers – Google, Facebook, Netflix, Naver, Kakao, Wavve – as required to implement measures for ensuring “convenient and stable service”, pursuant to amended Telecommunications Business Act.

BKL recently launched its Center for Law and Economics (CLE), through which it plans to provide clients with differentiated services based on joint and coordinated legal and economic analyses, applicable throughout all industries both domestic and abroad.

NeoImmuneTech, Inc. ("NeoImmuneTech"), a US Delaware corporation engaged in the biotech business, successfully consummated its Korean IPO and listing on the KOSDAQ market of depositary receipts (the “KDRs”) representing shares of its common stock on March 16, 2021. NeoImmuneTech is the second foreign company to be listed on the KRX through the technology growth company special listing track (“Special Tech Track Listing”), following US company Psomagen’s KOSDAQ listing in 2020.