South Korea’s leading mobile game company Netmarble Games has been sued for infringing intellectual property rights in its flagship mobile board game “Everybody’s Marble.”　Local game developer iPeoples Inc. said Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Netmarble for copying several components of its mobile game “Blue Marble” and utilizing the game’s IP without due payments.iPeoples claims that Netmarble’s “Everybody’s Marble” released in 2013 features many of the same design elements and ga

The newly appointed CEO of South Korea’s leading portal operator Naver pledged to make Naver a tech-savvy platform that helps small businesses and local creators grow and flourish, at a conference in Seoul on Tuesday.　Han Seong-sook, the executive vice president of Naver’s services division, is slated to become the company’s first female chief executive, as the successor to CEO Kim Sang-hun, who recently resigned from his post at the year’s end.　Han reaffirmed Naver’s dedication to its ongoing “

Archigen Biotech Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture between Samsung BioLogics and UK-based AstraZeneca, has initiated the clinical trials for a new Rituxan biosimilar in South Korea, Samsung BioLogics said Tuesday.According to the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Archigen’s SAIT101 was granted approval to begin phase 1 and phase 3 clinical trials at eight local hospitals on Nov. 11. The trials in Korea are currently ongoing, the Samsung unit said.The Samsung BioLogics headquarters in Songdo, In

Samsung Electronics Co. has said there has been no confirmed cases of faulty batteries with the Galaxy S7 smartphone, amid foreign media reports that some of the devices caught fire while charging. The statement by Samsung's American unit, issued last Friday, came as Samsung is trying to limit the damage done by the unprecedented discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7 over safety concerns. "Samsung stands behind the quality and safety of the Galaxy S7 family. There have been no confirmed cases of

South Korea ranked first worldwide in terms of the penetration rate of fast broadband Internet, which transmits data at a speed of over 100 Mbps (megabits per second), according to a report by KT Corp. on Tuesday.About 14.9 percent of South Korea's total population, or 7.58 million people, subscribed to the fast broadband Internet services, KT said, citing a recent survey by market researcher Ovum. KT Corp.'s ultra-fast broadband Internet service (Yonhap file photo)Singapore came in second with

Alipay, China's largest online payment service provider, opened its first-ever overseas customer center here in Seoul on Tuesday, a move that will help boost the Chinese firm's market presence while also helping to attract more Chinese visitors to the country, a local trade agency said.The Alipay service center is located at Seoul's COEX exhibition center, and will provide various customer services to Chinese visitors ranging from online payment services to luggage storage and business lounge se

Samsung Electronics on Monday reaffirmed its intention of becoming a Tier 1 car supplier instead of becoming an automaker, denying rampant speculation that had followed its surprise announcement to acquire a leading maker of connected car solutions“Over the last week since the Samsung-Harman deal, we have visited many key automotive clients globally and made sure that we wanted to become primary solution provider, Tier 1,” said Harman International Industries’ CEO Dinesh Paliwal at the press bri

South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus has partnered with leading Chinese telecommunications equipment provider Huawei to expand the emerging markets of Internet of Things-based devices and services in Korea.　The two companies jointly opened the “NB-IoT Open Lab” at the LG Uplus Sangam Center in northwestern Seoul on Monday. The lab will become a venue for local companies to design, assemble and test run new devices connected to the Narrow-Band Internet of Things, or NB-IoT, network.In a bid to en

NS Beyond announced Monday that a number of domestic and international companies are seriously considering using its simple, safe, and independently developed authentication solution Trusted Pass in their products. CEO Nam Seon-mo said, “It is still a bit early for us to disclose any specific details, but it is true that domestic and foreign conglomerates have shown considerable interest in our authentication solution.” Trusted Pass is a safe and simple authentication solution that offers the hi

Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it has sold more than 25,000 Gear S3 smartwatches in South Korea since it began selling the smartwatches at home on Nov. 11. Samsung unveiled the Gear S3 Frontier and S3 Classic in September, featuring a mobile payment function, longer battery life and built-in GPS capabilities for emergency calls or texts.Besides its stylish design, the Gear S3 is equipped with IP68 standards for water resistance so consumers can get through their day, regardless of weather c

VR geared to shape future of gaming industry

South Korea decided Friday not to allow Google Inc. to take government-supplied map data outside the country, citing possible security breaches.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which supervises mapping policy, announced the decision after a meeting with officials from the foreign, defense and other-related ministries. Choi Byung-nam, head of the National Geographic Information Institute, talks to reporters on Nov. 18, 2016. The institute, under the Ministry of Land, Infrastruc

LG Electronics on Thursday unveiled its new air purifier, the latest in its air care brand PuriCare lineup launched late last year. The cylinder-shaped device quickly purifies air with its 360-degree air intake and a booster that creates a strong wind for faster cleaning process, the company said. “We will expand our air purifier business into the US, China and Europe following the launch in Korea,” LG Electronics’ CEO Cho Seong-jin said at a launch event held at the company’s headquarters in Se