Mobile Legend’s Moonton Files Infringement Lawsuit Against Tencent

In a move that’s probably going to turn heads, Mobile Legends creator Moonton (via ByteDance) is suing Tencent (via South China Morning Post).

Over what, exactly? Turns out that Moonton claims that Tencent is infringing its Mobile Legends: Bang Bang IP; a copyright infringement case if you will. The alleged violations include rights to authorship, reproduction, and communications related to the title.

Previously, Tencent alleged that Mobile Legends violated its League of Legends and Honor of Kings IP. In fact, Riot Games (owned by Tencent) accuses Moonton of infringing copyright from its mobile title League of Legends: Wild Rift in US court, but that case was unsuccessful. Both Tencent and ByteDance/Moonton have deep pockets, so this copyright infringement case may take a while before it’s resolved. To put things into perspective:

• Moonton is worth US$4 billion following a purchase from ByteDance, who owns TikTok.
• Tencent’s Honour of Kings/Arena of Valor has made US$1.99 billion in 2022 alone.

Rest assured, these copyright infringement lawsuits from both companies, who themselves have made games that are clearly inspired by Dota and League of Legends (except on mobile), aren’t going to go away anytime soon. The court case will start on 29 November via Shanghai Intellectual Property Court.