The Pokémon Company has a reached a “substantial” settlement with the Chinese operators of a Pokémon-like mobile game after they were found guilty of copyright infringement.
According to a statement made by The Pokémon Company, Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology and its subsidiary Khorgos Fangchi Network Technology infringed on its copyrights with their self-developed mobile game Pocket Monster: Remake.
Pocket Monster: Remake originally launched in July 2015, with The Pokémon Company filing a lawsuit in December 2021 alleging that the game infringed on its copyright and engaged in unfair competition.
After the High People’s Court of Guandong Province found in The Pokémon Company’s favour and ordered the companies to pay 107 million yuan ($14.7 million) in damages, the case went to an appeal where a settlement was instead reached.
While the exact settlement has not been disclosed, a joint public apology by Guangzhou Maichi and Khorgos Fangchi said they had “paid a substantial economic price and incurred significant reputational damage”.
“Under the guidance of relevant precedents and judicial documents issued by the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province, we have deeply realized that our acts had violated relevant laws during the second-instance trial and settlement process,” the apology reads.
“The game has extensively used design elements of the well-known Pokémon video game series, infringing the copyrights related to the Pokémon video games, and has unfairly taken advantage of the fame and reputation of the Pokémon video games, thereby constituting acts of unfair competition.
“Our copyright infringement and acts of unfair competition have caused significant economic losses to the rights holders and severely damaged the image of the original Pokémon video games. We hereby sincerely apologize to The Pokémon Company and other rights holders, as well as the vast number of players, consumers and the general public.”
The companies conclude by saying they have “deeply reflected on it” and “learned [their] lessons”, promising that going forward it “will place a high priority on intellectual property protection, refrain from infringing upon any related intellectual property rights or interests of the Pokémon video games and their rights holders, and avoid engaging in any related acts of unfair competition.”
The Pokémon Company says it “will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its intellectual properties, to enable its users worldwide to enjoy all Pokémon contents with complete peace of mind.”
