Disagreement Over Unsettled Settlement Persists... Netflix vs SKB Show 'Differences in Stance' in 7th Hearing

Netflx "Forced Unfair Network Usage Fee" vs. SKB "No Free Agreement Exists"

[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] Netflix and SK Broadband (SKB), who have been engaged in a legal dispute over network usage fees, failed to narrow their differences on the 28th as well.

On this day, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 19-1 held the 7th appellate hearing for Netflix's lawsuit against SKB seeking a declaration of non-existence of debt.

Since Netflix filed a lawsuit in 2020 claiming that it has no obligation to pay network usage fees to SKB, the two sides have been involved in ongoing legal battles.

Netflix emphasized, "Currently, we have settlement-free peering with over 7,800 ISPs (Internet Service Providers) worldwide, and with many of them, we conduct settlement-free peering without separate contracts. This is an established practice in the internet industry, and Netflix also follows this."

Netflix added, "Although SKB was aware of Netflix's settlement-free peering policy, it continuously requested to change and add connection points from Seattle to Tokyo and Hong Kong, and despite being able to de-peer at any time, SKB has maintained the settlement-free peering relationship."

On the other hand, SKB has maintained the position that Netflix should pay network usage fees since 2015.

SKB argued, "The concept of free agreements does not exist in the internet industry from the start. The SFI (Settlement-Free Interconnection Agreement) unilaterally sent by Netflix to SKB in January 2016 is an agreement concerning 'bilateral connection' and has nothing to do with the traffic exchange of the multilateral connection at the Seattle SIX (multilateral connection) in the U.S."

SKB also emphasized that nowhere in the documents sent by Netflix does it state that "Netflix does not pay peering fees."

SKB stated, "At that time, SKB did not sign the SFI, clearly expressed its intention not to accept the SFI, and consistently maintained the position that network usage fees must be paid regarding the demand for free network usage fees."