moonton – Techdirt (original) (raw)

from the and-we-have-no-idea-what-happened dept

Nearly seven years ago, we discussed a copyright dispute between Riot Games and a Chinese game publisher, Moonton. At issue were mobile games published by Moonton, such as Mobile Legends, that sure looked like fairly straight clones of Riot Games titles, chiefly League of Legends. We don’t typically cover what look like legit copyright disputes, since they aren’t really our flavor of news. We did so in this case primarily because of comments Moonton put out publicly, including a flat denial of the copyright claims as well as some cryptic comments about the publisher “protecting” itself from media that was putting out good-faith reporting on the dispute. Here is that snippet from Moonton’s statement.

Meanwhile, for some media and competitors who have spread the unreal information and rumors against us, we reserve the right to protect ourselves and pursue legal actions.

So, what has happened in the subsequent seven years? Well, mostly a great deal of confusion as to where this dispute should even be heard, for starters.

The two gaming giants have been locked in disputes since 2017 when Riot Games initially sued MOONTON, alleging the replication of in-game elements from their popular game, League of Legends. The case, however, was dismissed, with the court ruling that it fell under the jurisdiction of a Chinese court.

Back in 2022, Riot Games reignited legal proceedings against MOONTON, claiming copyright infringement over certain content in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang that resembled elements from both League of Legends and its mobile version, League of Legends: Wild Rift. The US court dismissed the case, suggesting that it should be resolved in a different jurisdiction.

So, a great deal of flailing about with US courts deciding America was not the proper venue for any of this. Meanwhile, in true Streisand Effect fashion, the dispute and some of the commentary from Moonton attacking the press served only to keep the accusations of copyright infringement and cloning circulating around the gaming media and press.

And then, after all of this volleying of venues and lawsuits, both sides recently settled the dispute and the lawsuits are going away.

Riot Games has formally concluded its extensive legal dispute with MOONTON Games regarding intellectual property matters linked to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

“MOONTON Games and Riot Games have reached a global settlement on their intellectual property disputes. After several rounds of communication, the two parties officially signed a settlement agreement recently, and Riot Games decided to formally withdraw the related lawsuits,” MOONTON Games announced in a release sent to the media.

Although the details of the settlement are undisclosed, Riot Games’ withdrawal of lawsuits indicates a mutual agreement between the two entities.

As always, these undisclosed settlement terms are immensely frustrating and prevent us from seeing what was actually agreed to under the hood. That being said, given the pictorial evidence in the suits to back up the claims of cloning and copyright infringement, it is difficult for me to believe that Moonton walked away from this without donating any pints of blood to Riot’s lawyers.

And my real point in all of this harkens back to Moonton’s statement about protecting itself from rumors in the media. To publicly comment on this same dispute’s resolution that still doesn’t provide any clarity to the public and media as to what actually happened here and what was agreed to serves only to prolong the rumor mill filling in the void. If the company really wants to protect itself from the scary, evil media, it could try being just a bit transparent.

Filed Under: china, copyright, jurisdiction, league of legends, mobile legends, settlement, video games
Companies: moonton, riot games

from the great-strategy,-yo dept

While we often talk about oversteps regarding copyright protectionism and lawsuits in these here pages, it’s not as though there aren’t understandable disputes that exist. Likewise, while we often detail bad actions by aggressors on copyright issues, it’s not as though those on the defending side of that coin are always virtuous in the way they handle the dispute. The issue of game and mobile application cloning serves as a good ecosystem to show plenty of examples of both, with the latest dust-up between Riot Games and Shanghai Moonton Technology offering a specific look at how a party on the defense from a copyright claim can get everything wrong.

First, some background. Riot Games recently filed a lawsuit against Moonton for copyright infringement over three Moonton games: Mobile Legends 5V5 MOBA, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Magic Rush: Heroes. A cursory look at the evidence Riot Games offered up in the filing sure makes it look like Moonton was simply cloning League of Legends, from title screen to in-game design.


And there’s a lot more images you can compare in the link. The point is that nobody is going to look at this lawsuit and think Riot Games is crazy for filing it. There is enough cloning going on here to make even the most sympathetic pause. By now you’re probably wondering why this post is appearing on Techdirt at all, as we don’t make a habit of posting about seemingly legitimate intellectual property lawsuits.

Well, you’re reading this because we certainly do write posts about companies that attempt to lash out at the press and threaten them with lawsuits for covering them critically. And that’s exactly what Moonton decided to do in the face of the lawsuit.

In case you can’t see the embed, that reads:

Official Statement: Recently some media have published negative and unreal reports against Mobile Legends. Here is the statement of Moonton.

Mobile Legends is a MOBA game that is developed by Moonton independently, and its copyright has already been registered and protected in multiple countries all over the world. Moonton has independent intellectual property rights.

Mobile Legends and all the users will not be affected by these unreal reports and we will keep providing the best gameplay experience to players all over the world.

Meanwhile, for some media and competitors who have spread the unreal information and rumors against us, we reserve the right to protect ourselves and pursue legal actions.

Vague threats against the press for reporting on the lawsuit is simply not a good look. It also serves to put this into Streisand Effect territory, with much more coverage on the lawsuit due to Moonton’s response than would otherwise have existed. References to “unreal information” and “rumors” seem particularly silly, given that there is a very real and concrete lawsuit currently filed against the company, one which the press is certainly going to report on, whether Moonton likes it or not.

So, feel free to debate the validity of Riot’s lawsuit all you want, but this is a terrible response from Moonton.

Filed Under: copyright, free speech, infringement, league of legends, mobile legends, threats
Companies: moonton, riot games