When it comes to plagiarism, the Pokémon Company is no laughing matter. Remember, two years ago, the Japanese firm filed a lawsuit against six Chinese companies because it believed they had simply plagiarized one of its mobile games. Now, the verdict has been reached and the company has just won this mind-boggling amount of damages.
A plagiarized game in the sights of the Pokémon Company since 2022
Back in 2022 when six Chinese companies were accused by the Pokémon Company of plagiarizing one of its mobile games. Indeed, in 2015, the game Pocket Monster Reissue quickly gained popularity. In the space of a year, this game generated $42 million in revenue. This title also known as Koudaiyaoguai Fuke is a turn-based RPG on mobile that made no secret of using Sacha or Pikachu on the very icon of its application. The mobile game did not stop there because it also offered creatures whose design was downright copied from that of Gruikui, Moustillon and many others to name a few.
Faced with Pocket Monster Reissue, the Pokémon Company hits the jackpot
At the time, the Pokémon Company decided to take the six Chinese companies behind this game to court and claim $72 million in damages. Today, justice has been served since, as reported by the site GamesBiz, the Shenzhen court has ruled that the Pokémon Company has indeed been the victim of a copyright violation and has decided to order one of the six Chinese companies to pay the Japanese giant the sum of 107 million Chinese yuan, or the equivalent of just over $15 million in damages. Three other companies in this case were ordered to assume joint liability, but they have appealed this decision.
The Pokémon Company had claimed in addition to damages for plagiarism, that companies make public apologies on their various communication platforms and other gaming websites such as Tencent.com as well as on application stores.
As a reminder, a few months ago, a former legal director of The Pokémon Company explained that the company does not attack games developed by fans. Only games that exceed the limits in the exploitation of their intellectual property could be in their sights. Now, with this Pocket Monster Reissue affair, companies that might be tempted to do the same already know that it could cost them dearly, very dearly!