Riot Games, developer of the game League of Legends, information regarding copyright infringement claims.
Recently, the court dismissed Riot Games’ complaint against the developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – Moonton. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California on May 9, 2022.
According to the aforementioned District Court ruling, the case was dismissed on the grounds that the parties should settle their differences in China, where it was deemed preferable. Riot Games and Moonton have been arguing for a long time regarding the content details of the two games.
Court dismissed Riot’s lawsuit.
The two companies have a long history of litigation. In 2018, Riot Games also sued Moonton Games for allegedly stealing parts of League of Legends. However, in the same matter, a California court dismissed the case, so they had to take their case to a Chinese court for resolution. Then Tencent (the parent company of Riot Games) won $2.9 million when settled in the mainland.
Similarly, this new lawsuit was ordered by the court to bring Riot Games to China. The Central District Court of California in charge of the case said that the dispute between the two companies should be resolved in China. Riot Games, although a Los Angeles-based company, is still owned by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, while Moonton is a Chinese company.
With this in mind, Moonton’s legal team filed an argument that “the forum is not convenient” that another court would be better for settling the lawsuit.
In addition, the Court also mentioned that Riot and Tencent were waging a war against Moonton, and he considered it unreasonable. Tencent also brought separate charges against Moonton in the mainland.
The Riot Games case was made even worse by the court’s lack of information on whether parent company Tencent, a subsidiary of Riot Games, which is headquartered in China, or Riot Games located in the United States. Wild Rift content development. It is claimed that this information is necessary to protect Moonton’s copyright.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald questioned whether the situation had changed since 2017. However, because the judge has not seen much progress in the parallel case in China, more information needs to be conducted. .
After the incident, Riot Games stated: “We completely disagree with the court’s decision and especially their disturbing conclusion that China is an ‘appropriate alternative court’ to a American companies pursue allegations of copyright infringement occurring in the United States. The idea of a US citizen applying for an M5 visa to fly abroad to ask a Chinese court for relief related to its product is against the law. On top of that, Moonton’s game wasn’t even released in China. We are exploring all possible options including an appeal.”
Representatives of Moonton’s legal team, Keker and Peters, stated that the parties are embroiled in a lengthy copyright lawsuit in China that raises many of the same issues that Riot is currently trying to resolve in the US. Continuing in this way would be unfair, inefficient and damaging to both sides.
