CH74

Inside the Gulfstream IV business jet, cruising at 10,000 feet.

Seok-won sat in a wide seat, dressed in a black, tailored suit, his expression slightly stiff.

As soon as he received Tom's call, he immediately chartered the jet and was flying to San Francisco, where Silicon Valley was located.

Turning his gaze to the side, Seok-won looked down from under the round windscreen, seeing an endless expanse of field stretching beneath a blanket of white clouds.

At that moment, Landon, sitting across from him, placed the thick stack of documents he had been holding onto the table and spoke.

"Phew. This isn't going to be easy."

"Do you think it's going to work against us?"

Seok-won, turning his head to face him, asked. Landon, removing his glasses after reviewing the lawsuit, replied.

"Bringing in NCSA's personnel is a problem, but the biggest issue is that the framework of the new web browser under development is essentially identical to Mosaic's."

"Well, Tom was the one who came up with the idea for Mosaic and led its development, so it makes sense."

As Seok-won recalled, when NCSA learned that Tom Harper had started developing a new web browser in Silicon Valley, they immediately filed a lawsuit against Netscape, claiming intellectual property infringement.

"That's true, but as you know, since NCSA holds all the relevant patents, including the source code, if this goes to trial, it'll be hard for us to win."

"How likely do you think it is that we'll win?"

Landon hesitated for a moment before answering.

"To be honest, it's less than 50%, maybe even lower."

"If the chances of winning aren't even half, that means it's going to be difficult to win the trial."

Landon's role in accompanying Seok-won to Silicon Valley was to provide accurate legal advice, and he spoke candidly without hesitation.

"That's correct. The best option would be to reach an amicable settlement with NCSA."

Historically, when NCSA filed the lawsuit, Tom Harper reacted angrily and took the case to trial.

But in the end, as Landon just mentioned, it was settled through negotiation.

From Tom Harper's perspective, as the one who came up with the idea and led the development, it must have been frustrating. But since NCSA held all the intellectual property rights, it had always been a fight they couldn't win from the start.

Even knowing all of this, Seok-won had chosen to invest in Netscape alongside Tom Harper, because there was a value beyond this dispute.

More importantly, NCSA still didn't fully understand the immense value of the Mosaic web browser they had in their hands.

The lawsuit filed this time was, of course, partly about protecting intellectual property. However, the bigger issue was the resentment over the fact that they weren't just trying to develop a new web browser on their own but also took a large number of staff from the research lab.

"What do they want?"

An additional $4 million had been invested, and now it looked like the company might close its doors before it even had a chance to start.

Yet, despite the situation, Seok-won remained completely unshaken, maintaining his calm. Landon, secretly impressed, answered.

"They're demanding that we either stop developing the web browser based on Mosaic or acknowledge the intellectual property rights and pay a royalty of 50 cents per browser sold."

Hearing this, Seok-won let out a brief, ironic laugh.

"Not even having launched a browser yet, and they want royalties? That's basically telling us not to make it at all."

The internet was still in its infancy, and there was no real business model to speak of.

As a result, programs like Mosaic were, for the most part, being used for free, except by corporations.

But if they were required to pay a 50-cent royalty per browser, market dominance would be out of the question. The company would go bankrupt from unmanageable losses, even before it could launch.

"This is an unreasonable demand, and NCSA knows that well," Seok-won said.

As he crossed his arms, Landon calmly continued, "If we file a counter-lawsuit and drag things out, we can probably negotiate a fair settlement."

That was the most practical approach, so Seok-won nodded slightly.

"We don't have time to be bogged down by this. We need to hear Tom's thoughts too, so let's meet and decide on a response plan, and come up with a rough figure for the settlement."

"Understood."

After hearing the response, Seok-won sank into the plush seat and calmly began to organize his thoughts on how to handle the situation.

***

A little while later, after arriving at San Francisco airport and disembarking from the business jet, Seok-won, along with Landon, got into the waiting limousine and headed straight for Silicon Valley.

Netscape, which had received an additional $4 million investment from Seok-won, had rented an entire floor of a building on the outskirts of Silicon Valley for its office.

In the meantime, the number of employees had grown significantly, now surpassing 40.

While some new hires had joined, most of them were key personnel from NCSA who had worked with Tom on the development of Mosaic.

Given that the company was in the IT sector and most employees were young, their dress code was quite casual compared to Korea. If you exaggerated a bit, it looked as though they had just rolled out of bed.

Moreover, the cubicles were so cluttered that they resembled a junkyard. Paper cups stained with coffee, cola cans, crumpled papers, and torn snack wrappers were scattered haphazardly around the room, while employees, in dishevelled states, buried their faces in their monitors.

With their hair tangled and matted, faces exhausted from lack of sleep, and dark circles hanging under their eyes, they looked every bit the part of developers.

When guided by a young employee dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, Seok-won entered the CEO's office, where Tom Harper, sitting at a cluttered desk, was typing rapidly on his keyboard. He immediately jumped up to greet him.

"Welcome!"

Although it was called the CEO's office, the space was smaller than a college dorm room. There were no other furnishings except for a desk with a computer and a five-person sofa, making the room feel stark and empty.

The trash can under the desk was filled with discarded disposable coffee cups and sandwich wrappers, while clothes and blankets were carelessly thrown over the sofa.

Seeing this, Seok-won furrowed his brow and asked, "You're not eating and sleeping here at the office, are you?"

"Why not?"

Tom shrugged nonchalantly as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"We're on a tight schedule to finish the web browser we're developing this year. There's no time to rest."

Tom casually gathered the blankets and clothes from the sofa, rolling them up and stuffing them into a corner before gesturing for Seok-won to sit down.

The sofa, covered with dust in its crevices, made Seok-won shake his head in disbelief. He sat down next to Landon with a resigned sigh.

"Want something to drink?"

Seok-won glanced at the pile of disposable coffee cups stacked on the desk. Given the state of the office, he wondered if there was even anything to offer. Considering that washing the cups would be a miracle, he waved his hand and declined.

"It's fine. Just sit down."

Seok-won looked at Tom, who sat across from him, with a concerned expression and said, "I know work is important, but you need to take care of your health. At this rate, you'll collapse before finishing the development."

"Ah, this is nothing," Tom replied nonchalantly. "When we were developing Mosaic, I practically lived at the lab for months."

Suddenly, Tom's face twisted with anger as he clenched his teeth.

"We worked so hard to create Mosaic, and now they're suing us for intellectual property infringement! Those damn NCSA guys are going to get a taste of their own medicine. I'll finish the new browser and get it out there just to show them!"

His emotions were clearly running high, especially after the way he had been treated at NCSA, practically forced out. The lawsuit had sent him into a fury.

Seeing Tom like this, Seok-won calmly asked, "Did you look through the lawsuit details?"

Tom grimaced and said, "They're demanding 50 cents per browser in royalties! Are they out of their minds? It's basically asking us to shut down the company!"

Seok-won nodded with a knowing expression. "I expected them to react like this from the start, so there's no point in getting worked up over it."

Tom, who had been fuming with anger, seemed to calm down a bit after seeing Seok-won's composed demeanour. He then gave a guilty look.

"I really feel bad for you. You trusted me and invested a huge amount, and now this happens."

Seok-won shrugged casually. "It's something we had to deal with sooner or later. If this had come up after the new browser launch, it would've been a lot worse. In a way, it's better this way."

Though Tom was angry at NCSA's actions, he still had his concerns. He leaned forward, sitting up straighter, and asked, "So, what should we do now? They're not just making threats — they're the type to really go through with the lawsuit."

Seok-won turned his head and glanced at Landon, who was sitting beside him. "When it comes to the law, Landon is the expert. Let him explain."

At Seok-won's words, Tom looked at Landon with eager eyes.

Landon cleared his throat lightly and then began to explain the countermeasures he had prepared during the flight.

"There are two possible approaches we can take."

Tom leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. "What are they?"

"The first option is to counter-sue NCSA in California federal court. While it's true that the intellectual property rights belong to NCSA, it's also undeniable that you, Mr. Harper, and the team who came over from NCSA made significant contributions to the development of Mosaic."

Tom interjected, his voice rising in frustration, "It's not just a contribution — we made it all! The people still at NCSA didn't contribute a single line of code to Mosaic!"

Tom, upset and fuming, couldn't hide his anger, but Landon, true to his background as a lawyer, remained composed and calm.

"I understand your frustration, but legally, all the rights to Mosaic belong to NCSA."

"Damn it!" Tom spat out, his temper flaring.

"Moreover, since many of the developers from NCSA have moved over to Netscape to create a new web browser, this will also work against us in court."

Faced with this unfavourable situation, Tom's energy seemed to deflate as he asked, "So, what's the second option?"

"The second option is to settle with NCSA."

Upon hearing that, Tom furrowed his brows, a clear sign that he found the suggestion unacceptable. His stiffened expression and tightly pressed lips said it all.

Seeing Tom's reaction, Landon spoke in a more convincing tone.

"As I mentioned on the way here, if we go to court, we might be able to delay things, but our chances of winning are very slim."

Tom, still fuming, slowly let out a sigh as he slouched.

"You know exactly why that is, Mr. Harper."

"Hmm…"

"If we lose in court, not only will we have to pay back all the costs incurred, but the settlement amount could increase significantly. What's worse is that NCSA might use the ruling as a reason to block the release of the web browser they're developing."

"…You don't think it will go that far, do you?"

"If they want to set an example to prevent similar cases in the future, they could very well do that."

If that were to happen, Netscape would stumble before it even took its first step.

Tom's expression turned serious as he absorbed the information.

"But they're making an utterly unreasonable demand. How could we possibly agree to that?"

At that moment, having listened quietly, Seok-won straightened up and interjected.

"Of course, I don't intend to just accept NCSA's demands. We'll negotiate on fair terms."

"You think that's possible?"

Seok-won responded with a confident expression.

"It won't be easy, but we'll make it happen."

Seok-won, still looking at Tom with a concerned expression, said:

"I was thinking of taking full control of the negotiations with NCSA. Would that be okay with you?"

"You're going to handle it personally?"

Tom asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"Yes. Since Netscape is a company we built together, I can't just sit back and do nothing."

Seok-won nodded, and only then did Tom relax a little.

"I've been wondering how to deal with those guys. If you're stepping in, I'd be really grateful."

"Alright. I'll take care of this issue, so don't worry about it. Just focus on the web browser development."

"Are you sure that's alright?"

"Trust me."

Even though it was going to be a tough task, Tom couldn't help but feel that Seok-won would be able to handle it.

With the appearance of such a reliable ally, the frustration he'd been feeling for the past few days began to ease.

TL/n -

The legal battle between Netscape Communications Corporation and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) stemmed from the creation of the Mosaic web browser. Here's a brief rundown of the important points:

Background: Marc Andreessen, one of the co-creators of Mosaic, left NCSA to co-found Netscape Communications Corporation with Jim Clark. Their new browser, originally slated to be called Mosaic, had to be rebranded due to legal reasons, thus becoming Netscape Navigator.

Legal Challenges: The main legal issue arose when Netscape started distributing its new browser. NCSA claimed the Mosaic brand, prompting Netscape to drop the Mosaic name. The legal battle ended with Netscape rebranding its browser to Netscape Navigator