Tencent awarded $2.89 million in lawsuit against Mobile Legends CEO
Riot Games parent company wins non-compete suit in China
Tencent Holdings has won a lawsuit in China against Moonton Technology CEO Xu Zhenhua. The Riot Games parent company was awarded 19.4 million yuan, or $2.89 million.
Dotesports reports that a copyright infringement lawsuit was originally filed in California by Riot Games, but was dismissed due to the fact that a Chinese court could better hear and rule on the case. Tencent then filed a new lawsuit over non-compete, non-disclosure in China against CEO Xu Zhenhua (rather than the company itself). A separate copyright infringement case is still pending.
Riot's original lawsuit alleges that Moonton has possibly earned hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars on its game, Mobile Legends, which bears some noticeable similarities to League of Legends. Similar character designs, ability sets, maps, and other assets appear in both games, a fact that makes this lawsuit far more plausible than PUBG Corp's current suit against Netease.
The report also notes that Tencent may sue Moonton again over copyright infringement of a different game, King of Glory, in the near future.