[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Naver, indicted on charges of abuse of power related to real estate listing information, denied the allegations at the first trial.
On the 24th, Judge Lee Wonjoong of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 19 presided over Naver's first trial on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act.
Naver's attorney stated, "We deny the charges," and added, "Prohibiting the provision of (listing information) to third parties is intended to prevent unfair free-riding, so the crime cannot be established." They also said, "We request the prosecution to clarify what exactly the 'real estate information service market' means."
Judge Lee asked the prosecutor to provide their opinion on Naver's claims. The next trial date is scheduled for March 9 of next year.
Previously, Naver was indicted on charges of signing contracts with real estate information companies from May 2015 to September 2017, preventing them from providing real estate listing information given to Naver to its competitor Kakao.
In December 2020, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) detected such actions by Naver and imposed corrective orders and a fine of 1.032 billion KRW. The KFTC judged that while Naver was providing listing information through partnerships with real estate information providers (CPs), it changed contract terms to block Kakao's market entry after learning that Kakao sought similar business models and approached partner companies.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups exercised its right to request prosecution from the KFTC in November last year, after which the prosecution investigation began. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups can request prosecution considering the damage to small and medium enterprises or social ripple effects in cases where the KFTC did not prosecute, and the KFTC is obligated to comply.
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