Image: Riot Games
Tencent Holdings won its legal battle against the creators of “Mobile Legends” for copying Riot Games’ “League of Legends” (LoL).
A parent company to Riot Games, China-based Tencent Holdings will receive 19.4 million yuan (about P154 million) from “Mobile Legends” makers Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., as reported by e-gaming site Dot Esports.
Riot Games initially sued Shanghai Moonton in the Central District Court of California in 2017. The case was dismissed because a court in Shanghai, China had more jurisdiction over the matter. Parent company Tencent would later pursue the case at the Shanghai court.
Riot Games’ initial case cited visual comparisons of the heroes, abilities and stage designs between LoL and Mobile Legends. With a quick glance, it is easy to spot the similarities between the two games. Riot Games also compared visuals from LoL to another Shanghai Moonton game called “Magic Rush: Heroes”. Riot Games highlighted the characters Annie from LoL and Emily from “Magic Rush” for having similar designs and skills.
Shanghai Moonton initially was to pay Tencent only 2.6 million yuan (around P20.6 million). The court corrected this amount to 19.4 million yuan (around P154 million) after it deemed the initial figure insufficient. Tencent also believed Shanghai Moonton may have earned millions of dollars in copying LoL and launching it for the mobile platform.
Meanwhile, another case may be in the works from China-based multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game “King of Glory”, Also under Tencent, “King of Glory” plans to join with its parent company and Riot Games to put forward a separate case of copyright infringement against Shanghai Moonton.
Apart from being behind a number of gaming titles, Tencent Holdings also owns China’s wildly used instant messenger service QQ and mobile chat service WeChat. Alfred Bayle/JB
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