Riot Games' LoL, Moonton's Mobile Legends settle IP dispute


League of Legends (LoL) maker Riot Games dropped its longstanding lawsuit against Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) creator Moonton Games over its intellectual property (IP) dispute.

Here's the official statement from Moonton Games:
MOONTON Games and Riot Games have reached a global settlement on their intellectual property disputes. After several rounds of communication, the two parties officially signed a settlement agreement recently, and Riot Games decided to formally withdraw the related lawsuits.

Since 2017, the two video game developers have been in a legal dispute. Riot Games, makers of League of Legends, filed a lawsuit against Moonton, alleging that they had copied in-game elements from their MOBA PC title.

However, the aforementioned case was dissolved the following year on the grounds that a more favorable resolution could be obtained in China.

Riot Games sued Moonton again in 2022, this time for copyright infringement over material in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang that appeared similar to elements of LoL and its mobile version, League of Legends: Wild Rift. Some of these similarities, according to Riot, are user interfaces (UI), character designs, skills, and accessories.

The case was once more dismissed by the United States court on the grounds that it would be resolved more effectively in a different jurisdiction.

Ultimately, a global agreement was reached between the two organisations this year, wherein Riot Games duly dismissed all pertinent legal proceedings against Moonton.

Initially established 2006 in the United States, Tencent-owned Riot Games is most known for League of Legends, its wildly famous multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title for PC, released way back in 2009. Since then, the company has branched out to create games like Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant.

On the other hand, ByteDance-led Moonton Games, a video game developer and publisher based in Shanghai, China, is mostly known for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, its popular MOBA for mobile devices, released in 2016. Its recent game, Watcher of Realms, was released in 2023.

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