Riot told to take case to China

MANILA — A US court dismissed Riot Games' copyright lawsuit against Moonton, the makers of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, legal documents obtained Thursday showed.

This dispute from a May 2022 lawsuit where Riot Games, the name behind League of Legends and its mobile version, Wild Rift, alleged that Moonton copied elements and promotional materials from Wild Rift, which was released 2020.

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US district judge Michael Fitzgerald ruled the case could be heard in China, where technology giant Tencent, Riot's parent company, is based.

The court factored in Tencent's alleged refusal to "fully participate" in the legal action filed by Riot.

"Riot would seemingly like to harness the discovery mechanisms in the US judicial system (which are far broader than China’s), knowing full well that because Tencent is outside of this Court’s subpoena power, those discovery advantages will primarily inure to Riot but not Moonton," the 31-page ruling read.

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The court also found that both Riot and Tencent freely allow each other to use the other's copyrighted works, meaning "it is entirely unclear which elements of the games are made by Riot and which are made by Tencent."

"Such knowledge is critical to Moonton’s copyright defenses. It thus remains unfair to allow Riot and Tencent to bring a two-front war against Moonton unless and until Tencent decides to show up on both battlefields," it said.

GOING WAY BACK

Riot and Moonton's legal spats concerning their games' intellectual properties go way back to 2017, when ML:BB was still called Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA.

Riot at the time sued Moonton for infringement of in-game materials from their PC game. Like the ruling in 2022, a California court ruled at that time it was best to bring the case to China. However, Moonton was ordered to pay $2.9 million, and the game was removed temporarily from various platforms.

It returned shortly after, now named "Mobile Legends: Bang Bang," changing some of its elements.

In the same court, Riot filed a complaint in May 2022, where it alleged that Moonton copied elements from League of Legends' recently-released mobile version, Wild Rift, and its promotional materials.

"Moonton has updated ML:BB to copy extensive expressive elements from Wild Rift , continuing its cycle of knowing appropriation of Riot’s intellectual property," Riot said in the 35-page document.

In the court decision, Fitzgerald said, "Riot has returned to this Court seeking once again to vindicate its copyrights in its video games that are allegedly being infringed by Moonton’s competitive video game."

"The question is whether circumstances have truly changed from those that existed in 2017 or whether Riot simply seeks a second bite at the apple, unhappy with the progress (or lack thereof) in the still on-going, parallel China litigation. The Court deems the latter to be the case," he added.

This court dismissal comes after Moonton won a commercial defamation suit against Riot Games in China in October. Tencent, Riot's parent company was ordered to pay around P1.8 million by a China court as reparations for the economic losses the ML:BB developers incurred.

Riot 'strongly disagrees', explores possible appeal

In a statement forwarded to ABS-CBN News Friday afternoon, Riot Games said it disagreed with the court's recent decision and found the conclusion "worrying." The global game developer said it was mulling filing an appeal.

"We strongly disagree with the court's decision and especially its worrying conclusion that China is an 'adequate alternative forum' for a US company to pursue its claims of copyright infringement that occurred in the US," Riot Games said.

"The idea of having US citizens apply for M5 visas to fly overseas in order to ask a Chinese court for relief concerning works that were both created and infringed in the US — defies common sense. On top of that, Moonton’s knock off game isn't even available in China. We are exploring all possible options, including an appeal."

ML:BB is not available in China, where League of Legends: Wild Rift stands as a popular title, and its esports players as the dominant team.

The esports scene saw Chinese teams dominating the world stage, when Nova Esports won the coveted inaugural world title in the Wild Rift: Icons in Singapore. In the Philippines, Wild Rift also has a professional league, with RRQ Philippines representing the country in this year's Icons last July.

Meanwhile, the Philippines remains one of the most dominant gaming regions in ML:BB, having won back-to-back world championships. ML:BB has been a major pinnacle of esports tournaments around the country.