Suing the Korean Government in Court Abroad: The Ashley Madison Saga Begins

Avid Life Media is suing the Korean Government and the Korea Communications Standards Commission for blocking its Ashley Madison website in Korea in a Canadian Federal Court.  If it intends to enforce the judgment in Korea – Good Luck.

Avid Life Media runs the Ashley Madison dating site.  The site motto is “Life is Short. Have an Affair.” Seemingly, the Korean Government blocked the site, since the site is believed to facilitate adultery.

Avid Life Media is arguing that the case may be heard in a Canadian court, since the the shutting down of the website, in Korea, will decrease the likelihood of the site being used by Korean-Canadian and Asian-Canadians because of the global nature of people’s lives.

Additionally, the plaintiff notes that like sites, owned by Koreans, have not been blocked, thus, the Korean government is engaging in “anti-competitive” practices.

The plaintiff is claiming an unspecified amount of damages and a order to unblock the site.  

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 Sean Hayes may be contacted at: SeanHayes@ipglegal.com. Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. He is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean attorneys as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw.

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