League of Legends developer and publisher Riot Games has filed a lawsuit against a popular Chinese mobile game developer known as Shanghai Moonton Technology for copyright infringement of Riot Games' intellectual property which was filed at United States District Court - Central District of California on July 6, 2017. To simplify, Riot Games filed a complaint against Moonton mobile games for copying League of Legends.
Moonton, the company in question that is being faced with the lawsuit is responsible for creating several mobile games such as Magic Rush: Heroes, Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, ;all of which are games included in the lawsuit as examples of the company using Riot Games' properties and contents. According to the copyright infringement lawsuit that Riot issued, these three games have "a vast array of elements that were directly and deliberately appropriated from LoL, including but not limited to LoL’s characters, artwork, map designs, and unit and monster designs. And, to add insult to injury, Moonton marketed and distributed certain of its games with a logo that is confusingly similar to Riot’s LoL logo, using the exact same font and color schemeas Riot’s LoL logo."
Read: 44-page, full text of lawsuit of Riot Games against Shanghai Moonton
Many of you might not be surprised with this lawsuit of Riot Games (LoL Publisher) against Mobile Legends because you can see the similarities, from maps, to characters and all other aspects. LoL players' first impression with Mobile Legends is a total LoL rip-off.
See also:
Mobile Legends Guide : Tips and Tricks for Newbies
This copyright infringement lawsuit isn't the first time that Riot Games has interacted with Shanghai Moonton though. Before Mobile Legends: Bang bang, Shanghai Moonton's game Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA was available for download via the Google Playstore and Apple App Store and was basically the same game that Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at present. When Riot Games notified the Google Playstore and Apple App Store, Shanghai Moonton took the game down and later reinstated it within the Google Playstore with a few changes and tweaks to the gameplay and under the new name of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The lawsuit that was filed contains examples of occasions within the game where characters and abilities were allegedly taken directly from League of Legends.
Looking at Mobile Legends in Google Playstore, you can browse through a couple of screenshots that show several characters from the game that are quite similar to some of the champions of League of Legends. A video trailer also shows some gameplay taking place in a map that very much resembles Summoner's Rift, the trilane map of LoL.
Here's the statement of one of the Admin (GM Krisha Aquino) of Mobile Legends Philippines Official Group regarding this lawsuit:
<ANNOUNCEMENT>
To all ML Players,
I just want to remind you that we should ALWAYS.. ALWAYS wait for Riot and Moonton's OFFICIAL announcement. Do not jump into conclusions before we hear the whole story. THERE WILL BE AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT LATER FROM MOONTON.
Thank you guys!
Mobile Legends Philippines GM Team.
On July 11, 2017, the Mobile Legends Facebook page released an official statement calling the report “unreal,” and stating the game was developed by Moontoon independently with intellectual property rights. It made no mention the lawsuit. Below is the full statement:
Recently, some media have published negative and unreal reports against Mobile Legends. Here is the statement of Moontoon:
Mobile Legends is a MOBA game that is developed by Moontoon independently, and its copyright has already been registered and protected in multiple countries all over the world. Moontoon has independent intellectual property rights.
Mobile Legends and all of 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.
Do you have any comment regarding this issue? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comment below.
See also:
Mobile Legends Guide : Tips and Tricks for Newbies
This copyright infringement lawsuit isn't the first time that Riot Games has interacted with Shanghai Moonton though. Before Mobile Legends: Bang bang, Shanghai Moonton's game Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA was available for download via the Google Playstore and Apple App Store and was basically the same game that Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at present. When Riot Games notified the Google Playstore and Apple App Store, Shanghai Moonton took the game down and later reinstated it within the Google Playstore with a few changes and tweaks to the gameplay and under the new name of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The lawsuit that was filed contains examples of occasions within the game where characters and abilities were allegedly taken directly from League of Legends.
Looking at Mobile Legends in Google Playstore, you can browse through a couple of screenshots that show several characters from the game that are quite similar to some of the champions of League of Legends. A video trailer also shows some gameplay taking place in a map that very much resembles Summoner's Rift, the trilane map of LoL.
Here's the statement of one of the Admin (GM Krisha Aquino) of Mobile Legends Philippines Official Group regarding this lawsuit:
<ANNOUNCEMENT>
To all ML Players,
I just want to remind you that we should ALWAYS.. ALWAYS wait for Riot and Moonton's OFFICIAL announcement. Do not jump into conclusions before we hear the whole story. THERE WILL BE AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT LATER FROM MOONTON.
Thank you guys!
Mobile Legends Philippines GM Team.
On July 11, 2017, the Mobile Legends Facebook page released an official statement calling the report “unreal,” and stating the game was developed by Moontoon independently with intellectual property rights. It made no mention the lawsuit. Below is the full statement:
Recently, some media have published negative and unreal reports against Mobile Legends. Here is the statement of Moontoon:
Mobile Legends is a MOBA game that is developed by Moontoon independently, and its copyright has already been registered and protected in multiple countries all over the world. Moontoon has independent intellectual property rights.
Mobile Legends and all of 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.
Do you have any comment regarding this issue? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comment below.