Court dismisses Riot Games' lawsuit against Moonton Technology
US judge rules that China will be a more appropriate forum for the legal dispute over alleged League of Legends copycats
Riot Games' latest attempt to sue Shanghai-based developer Moonton Technology has been blocked, as a California court dismissed the case.
The League of Legends firm filed a lawsuit against Moonton back in May, accusing the Chinese studio of repeatedly copying its flagship title through its own release, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
On Tuesday, Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the US District Court for the Central District of California granted Mooton's motion to dismiss, find that China will be a more appropriate forum for the dispute.
If that sounds familiar, it's because this was the same result when Riot attempted to sue Moonton back in 2017, with the court again ruling that the case would be "better heard" in China.
Riot Games is owned by leading China-based tech firm Tencent, while Moonton is part of TikTok's parent company ByteDance, which – like Tencent and Moonton – is based in China.
“The question is whether circumstances have truly changed from those that existed in 2017 or whether Riot simply seeks a second bite at the apple, unhappy with the progress (or lack thereof) in the still ongoing, parallel China litigation," Judge Fitzgerald wrote. "The Court deems the latter to be the case.”
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