[Digital Daily Correspondent Kang So-hyun] Netflix came out with a new weapon in the second round of the court battle over the cost of using the network. Bill and Keep, which claims to be the basic principle of the Internet. As with the first trial, Netflix argued that, in order to maintain the Internet ecosystem, telecommunication service providers must follow these basic principles, while SK Broadband is evaluating that it is unreasonable.
On the 16th, the 19-1 Civil Division of the Seoul High Court held the first hearing date for the second trial for the non-debt confirmation lawsuit filed by Netflix against SK Broadband and the unfair profit return lawsuit filed by SK Broadband against Netflix on the 16th.
In this trial, both sides held oral arguments for 20 minutes. Netflix, who first held a defense, presented ‘Bill and Keep’ as a new issue. According to the ‘bill and keep’ principle, which is an established practice in the internet world, it is argued that SK Broadband cannot demand payment for network use.
According to Netflix, ‘Bill and Keep’ is the principle that the ISP pays for access by receiving access fees from its own Internet users and does not demand more money from the other ISP. The same principle applies even when ISPs and CPs are peering, Netflix added.
A Netflix spokesperson said, “As long as you connect according to ‘Bill and Keep’, you can connect anywhere on the Internet without paying additional transmission fees for networks that are sequentially connected thereafter. can be easily found in Korea.”
In response, SK Broadband countered that Bill and Keep is not a basic principle of the Internet, but a principle of commerce between ISPs. According to SK Broadband, two conditions must be met for ‘Bill and Keep’ to be established. ▲When the amount of traffic exchanged between ISPs is equal and ▲the resulting economic profit is similar. It is argued that this is a principle that does not apply to the original CP.
A spokesperson for SK Broadband said, “Even in the first trial, the plaintiffs argued that it was the basic principle of the Internet to allow free access.” In the first trial, Netflix presented net neutrality, which it claims to be another basic principle of the Internet, and argued that data delivery should not be discriminated against because the amount of information transmitted by ISPs is large.
In a briefing held after the trial, SK Broadband said, “It was very surprising that Netflix came up with Bill & Keep as an internet principle.” “I thought about why they came out with ‘Bill and Keep’ like that,” said Kang Shin-seop, a lawyer at Sejong Law Firm, a legal representative for SK Broadband. said
