CNY 107 Million in Damages Awarded! Pokémon vs Pocket Monsters: Remake
Created on：2024-11-2517:55
Recently, CNY 107 million in damages were awarded against mobile game Pocket Monsters: Remake by a Chinese court of first instance in the case of Pokémon vs Guangzhou Maichi, which involved copyright infringement and unfair competition.
The court held that the essential elements of the disputed mobile game, for example, characters, the leading character, and the map, are substantially similar to the corresponding elements of the plaintiff’s game Pokémon, the combinations of those elements within the two games are highly similar or even identical, and their detailed story expressions are substantially similar. Therefore, the court ruled that the defendants’ activities infringe upon the plaintiff’s copyright.
In addition, the court held that the business operation and promotion of the disputed game also constitute unfair competition.
In light of the above, the court ordered Guangzhou Maichi and other defendants to pay Pokémon damages of CNY 107 million. It was reported that the defendants have appealed against the court decision.
The amount of awarded damages is very high, which reflects the Chinese courts’ great efforts to protect the copyrights of games.
