Koei Tecmo settles lawsuit for malicious copyright infringement against Chinese game company
Koei Tecmo announced on July 10 that they have reached a settlement with the Singapore-based subsidiary of Chinese developer Yoozoo Games regarding a copyright lawsuit filed in April this year. The company has acknowledged the infringement and formally apologized (source: GameBiz).
Prior to the lawsuit, Yoozoo Games had allegedly been repeatedly using assets and music from Koei Tecmo’s games (namely Nobunaga’s Ambition and Taiko Risshinden) in advertisements for unaffiliated apps. Koei Tecmo determined that the act constituted malicious copyright infringement and sent the company a warning letter. However, Yoozoo Games failed to comply in deleting all instances of unauthorized asset use, which led Koei Tecmo to file a lawsuit seeking an injunction and compensation for copyright damages.
As of today, the lawsuit has been settled out of court, with Yoozoo admitting to the infringement. Koei Tecmo reportedly accepted settlement because Yoozoo Games agreed to implement measures for preventing future recurrence of copyright infringement.