The Pokémon Company wins $15 million copyright infringement lawsuit against China-based game developers
The Pokémon Company announced on September 17 that it has won a lawsuit against several Chinese companies that were accused of copyright infringement and intellectual property theft (source: GameBiz).
The lawsuit was initially filed back in December 2021 against a total of six companies involved in developing and publishing Pocket Monster Reissue (also known as Koudaiyaoguai Fuke). First released in 2015, this turn-based mobile game blatantly plagiarized numerous characters and creature designs from the Pokémon series, including Ash Ketchum and Pikachu.
With the offending game having earned upwards of $42 million in a single year, The Pokémon Company originally claimed an estimated $72 million in damages and demanded public apologies from the companies involved across all major social media platforms, as reported by The South China Morning Post.
According to the latest update from The Pokémon Company, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court has acknowledged the infringement accusations, ordering one of the companies involved to pay 107 million Chinese yuan (over $15 million based on recent conversion rates) in damages. Three of the other companies named in the lawsuit were ordered to bear joint liability, but have since filed an appeal.
