Kakao Entertainment and Naver Webtoon said on March 19 they won a civil lawsuit filed against the operator of Ajitun, the country's largest illegal distribution site for webtoons and web novels.

On March 11, the court fully accepted the 1 billion won in damages sought by each plaintiff, recognising total liability of 2 billion won. The court ordered payment of damages, late interest and provisional enforcement.

Ajitun illegally distributed about 750,000 webtoons and about 2.5 million web novels. In August 2024, the operator was arrested through a joint investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office. The operator was later sentenced to two years in prison in a criminal trial, and the same sentence was upheld on appeal.

Kakao Entertainment and Naver Webtoon filed a civil lawsuit seeking 1 billion won in damages each. During the trial, they submitted an estimated damage amount in the hundreds of billions of won, based on distribution volume and the period of operation.

The ruling is expected to be a benchmark for responding to similar cases, as it is a case that proceeded from arrest to criminal punishment, dismissal of an appeal and a civil damages judgment against an illegal distribution site.

Kakao Entertainment responded jointly to the case by submitting a petition for strict punishment together with the Webtoon Illegal Distribution Response Council, comprising Kakao Entertainment, Naver Webtoon, Ridi, KidariStudio, Lezhin Entertainment, Toptoon and Toomics.

Ho-jun Lee (이호준), head of Kakao Entertainment's legal office, said the ruling was a case in which civil and criminal liability were recognised together for large-scale copyright infringement. He said the company would continue to upgrade its response system centred on a dedicated organisation for tackling illegal distribution and would pursue legal measures such as complaints and lawsuits to protect creators' rights.

Kakao Entertainment also said it has deleted a cumulative total of more than 1 billion cases of illegal content globally through its dedicated organisation.