A US court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Riot Games against Shanghai Moonton for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The judge ruled that the companies should be tried in a Chinese court.
This came after Shanghai Moonton’s lawyers filed a request to refer the case to the appropriate local court. Riot has opposed it three times, including citing the Covid-19 restrictions as a reason, but the judge has denied it in all cases.
The court noted that Riot is wholly owned by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent, which is not involved in the case but is already involved in the proceedings with Shanghai Moonton in China. Furthermore, the judge said it would be unfair to allow Riot and Tencent to wage a two-pronged war against Shanghai Moonton, so either Riot will sue in China as well, or Tencent will transfer the case to the United States.
At the same time, Riot complained about the difficulties of the Chinese judicial system, which will benefit the opponent. However, this trick also failed, although the court allowed him to return with a lawsuit if the obstacles with the evidence in China were insurmountable.
The dispute between Riot and Shanghai Moonton has been going on for years. In 2017, Riot claimed in a lawsuit that the studio developed and distributed the game using Riot’s intellectual property for this purpose. Subsequently, the Chinese studio removed the game, reworked it a bit, and released it again under the name Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Riot strongly disagrees with the court’s decision, arguing that the decision raises concerns, especially as LoL mobile clones are not even available in China and the intellectual property infringement has taken place in the United States.
