Riot Games Must Take Lawsuit With Moonton To China Says US Judge

In legal gaming news, a US judge has just dismissed Riot Games’ lawsuit against Shanghai Moonton's game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The case surrounding these two companies stems from years of Moonton apparently stealing multiple game designs that are very similar to Riot Games’ League of Legends.

Honestly, even the artwork and title lettering are very similar to LoL when put side by side, and the MOBA-styled gameplay does also leave little to the imagination where they may have gotten some of their design ideas.

Still, the case has been recently dismissed and it has been suggested that the dispute should be resolved in China. Currently, Riot is owned by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, which is not taking part in this specific case, but is actually pursuing a separate legal action against Shanghai Moonton in China. The US court said it would be "unfair to allow Riot and Tencent to bring a two-front war against Moonton unless and until Tencent decides to show up on both battlefields."

Despite the court ruling on the same issue back in 2017, this time has proven to be no different as it has once again been dismissed. "For years, the parties have been litigating highly related copyright claims in China that raise many of the same issues that Riot is now trying to re-raise in the US," said Ajay Krishnan, a partner at Moonton's legal firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters. "It would have been duplicative, inefficient, and wholly unfair to proceed with this case in the U.S., where Moonton would lack access to key evidence and witnesses."

Naturally, Riot is not happy about the results and is still trying to figure out what it can do to get the results they so desperately want to see. As of now, the company seems to be looking for an appeal.