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25 March 2015
Renowned US game developer Blizzard Entertainment has filed an official case with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office against local games distributor LemonGame (樂檬線上) for copyright infringement.
The China Post reported that Blizzard brought the lawsuit against LemonGame for a mainland Chinese mobile application game that the company currently distributes in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
According to Blizzard, LemonGame's “Legend of Blades and Turrets” (刀塔傳奇), more commonly known by its unofficial street name “DotA Legend” (in reference to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a multiplayer online battle arena mod for Blizzard's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos), contains character designs and scenes from Blizzard's internationally known games of Warcraft, a franchise of real-time strategy computer games, and World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
The game in question was developed by Shanghai game-maker Lilith Technology (莉莉絲科技) last February. After LemonGame acquired the distribution rights to the game, it was released in Taiwan last August. The game has been said to have garnered 80 million mobile downloads, with an estimated monthly revenue of NT$1.3 billion.
Blizzard also took to its official website to state that the elements did not receive permission from the company, which means that LemonGame is in violation of Taiwan's Copyright Act and Trademark Act.
The website also published a statement from the chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment Paul Sams, “We strongly believe that 'DotA Legend' infringes on our Warcraft and World of Warcraft copyrights and trademarks, and we are aggressively pursuing our options under the law to protect our content,” Sams said.
“As a company whose business is based on creative content, it's vital that we defend our intellectual property rights, and we will continue to do so in accordance with local laws and regulations in Taiwan and other regions around the world. In order to preserve a sustainable environment for creative and technology-based companies like Blizzard and its partners to thrive in Taiwan, it's critical that intellectual property rights be protected.”
In response to media inquiries as to why the lawsuit was brought upon the game's Taiwanese distributor and not its mainland Chinese developer, Blizzard said that it is primarily considering the fact that Taiwan has better laws concerning intellectual property rights protection.
LemonGame has also stated that the company has already appointed a lawyer to represent it in the case, and is currently in communications with Blizzard and Lilith Technology.
Not the Only Lawsuit
Lilith Technology has recently brought a same lawsuit in the US against American game developer uCool involving the same game.
According to computer and video games blog GamePolitics.com, Lilith alleged that uCool's mobile game, “Heroes Charge,” has infringed the copyrights of Lilith's “Legend of Blades and Turrets,” released in Europe as “Allstar Heroes.”
Reportedly, both games share similar game play elements, with character designs heavily “inspired” by DotA.
