The Pokémon Company was awarded “substantial” damages as a part of a settlement in a long-running lawsuit with the builders of Chinese copycat cellular sport Pocket Monster: Remake.
Pocket Monster: Remake launched in 2015 and appeared pretty well-liked, having earned upwards of round $42 million in a single yr based on The Pokémon Company, as reported by The South China Morning Post in 2022.
The sport featured seemingly unaltered Pikachu art work from the Pokémon Yellow field because the app icon, whereas different branding for the sport featured what gave the impression to be Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Tepig, and Oshawott, once more unaltered. Gameplay of Pocket Monster: Remake from perezzdb on YouTube reveals myriad different acquainted characters and Pokémon in what seems to be meant as a remake of the unique video games.
Perhaps inevitably, The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit again in 2021. Three years later, in September 2024, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court dominated in favor of The Pokémon Company, awarding round $15 million. But each corporations appealed the ruling, resulting in this week’s settlement announcement.
As reported by Automaton, The Pokémon Company additionally published a public apology letter from Pocket Monster: Remake maker Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd., which was issued throughout all main social media platforms. In it, the corporate admits ripping off Pokémon characters, guarantees by no means to do it once more, and confirms it has now shut down Pocket Monster: Remake solely.
Here’s the apology in full:
Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter known as “the Company”) has launched and operated the self-developed cellular sport “Pocket Monster: Remake (口袋妖怪：复刻)” (alias “The Pocket Journey (口袋之旅)”, hereinafter known as “the Game”) since July 2015 by way of the Company’s subsidiaries (together with however not restricted to Khorgos Fangchi Network Technology Co., Ltd., hereinafter the Company and its subsidiaries collectively known as “We”) and numerous on-line sport operators.
In December 2021, The Pokémon Company (hereinafter known as “TPC”) filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in Guangzhou Province, alleging that the Company infringed its copyright and engaged in unfair competitors. The first-instance judgment dominated that the Company was responsible for the claimed copyright infringement and unfair competitors, and ordered the Company to pay damages within the quantity of 107 million Chinese yuan to TPC. The case was heard within the second occasion on December 18, 2024, and underneath the mediation of the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province, TPC and We reached a settlement on the problem of compensation.
Under the steerage of related precedents and judicial paperwork issued by the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province, We have deeply realized that our acts had violated related legal guidelines in the course of the second-instance trial and settlement course of. The Game has extensively used design parts of the well-known Pokémon Video Game Series, infringing the copyrights associated to the Pokémon Video Games, and has unfairly taken benefit of the celebrity and popularity of the Pokémon Video Games, thereby constituting acts of unfair competitors. Our copyright infringement and acts of unfair competitors have precipitated vital financial losses to the rights holders and severely broken the picture of the unique Pokémon Video Games. We hereby sincerely apologize to TPC and different rights holders, in addition to the huge variety of gamers, shoppers, and most of the people.
The Game has now been fully faraway from the market and operations have ceased. At the identical time, We have paid a considerable financial worth and incurred vital reputational injury. We have deeply mirrored on it and discovered our classes. In our future operations, We will place a excessive precedence on mental property safety, chorus from infringing upon any associated mental property rights or pursuits of the Pokémon Video Games and their rights holders, and keep away from partaking in any associated acts of unfair competitors.
While The Pokémon Company has discovered success with this copycat online game, it is nonetheless embroiled in a lawsuit with Palworld maker Pocketpair, which it sued for patent infringement final yr. Pocketpair has vowed to combat the case within the Japanese courts.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
