Sega’s patent infringement lawsuit against Memento Mori developer is “the kind of lawsuit that usually goes on behind closed doors,” Japanese patent attorney says 

Japanese mobile game developer Bank of Innovation (hereafter BOI) announced on October 21 that it received notice of a patent infringement lawsuit lodged against it by Sega Corporation. Analyzing the circumstances of the case for Yahoo News Japan, Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara commented that this is the kind of lawsuit that “usually goes on behind closed doors,” and that it’s unlikely to end in a complete loss for BOI. 

For context, Sega claims that two titles developed and operated by BOI infringe on their intellectual property. This includes Genjuu Keiyaku Cryptract, a mobile RPG run by the company from 2012 until 2019, and the idle RPG Memento Mori. Alleging infringement of five of their patents related to game mechanics, Sega seeks an injunction against Memento Mori and 1 billion yen in damages (over $6.6 million at the recent exchange rates) from BOI. 

According to Kurihara, BOI was forced to disclose the case publicly in a timely manner because they are a relatively small company, and the $6.6 million in damages would have a large effect on them financially. In other words, they were obligated to let shareholders know about the lawsuit. 

However, the attorney comments that it’s unlikely that BOI will end up losing the lawsuit completely, and that this is likely not Sega’s goal either. “It appears this is not a lawsuit meant for Sega to eliminate its competition, but a lawsuit to achieve a patent license agreement in its favor.” For context, a patent license agreement is a license through which the owner of a patent allows another party to use it under specific terms and with defined royalties.  

As BOI’s news release mentions that Sega’s lawsuit was filed after negotiations for a patent license agreement fell through, Kurihara speculates that the case will end in a settlement “relatively soon,” once both sides agree on the conditions for a patent license agreement. The attorney’s remark that such cases usually happen behind the scenes suggests that similar lawsuits between developers in Japan could be more common than is generally thought.