Tencent defends "slavish" Horizon Zero Dawn clone from Sony, claiming that "fame does not create a trademark" as it tries to bat legal claims away from survival game Light of Motiram

A screenshot of several Mechanimals in a lush, green environment in Light of Motiram.

(Image credit: Polaris Quest)

Earlier this year, Sony filed a lawsuit against Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company Tencent, dubbing its project Light of Motiram a "slavish clone" – only for Tencent to later hit back with its own motion to dismiss.

Shortly after, Sony clapped back with a response, saying, "The damage is done" and calling Tencent's reply "nonsense." The Horizon Zero Dawn publisher also doubled down on its argument that Light of Motiram is a "knock-off" of its action RPG. After going through why it finds Tencent's logic unfounded, Sony concluded, "For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Dismiss should be denied in its entirety."

The legal battle isn't anywhere near over just yet, however – and Tencent has returned with a new document directed toward Sony. The company starts its 21-page statement by outlining why it feels the opposition's "lawsuit was brought against the wrong parties, long before many of the purported acts of infringement had even occurred, regarding intellectual property rights that are, at least in part, not adequately pleaded."

The document continues: "Sony might be frustrated by the fact that it has to follow the proper procedures and serve the parties that, as alleged, are actually the relevant actors. But that is no reason to allow a deficient lawsuit to proceed against defendants who are not responsible for the infringing conduct alleged." This part seemingly alludes to an argument Tencent made previously: "Plaintiff Sony has sued a grab-bag of Tencent companies."

Sony did respond before, explaining that Tencent "and the entities it owns and/or controls have engaged in conduct that infringes SIE's intellectual property" and therefore it's not such a "grab-bag," after all. Back to the current document, though, where Tencent goes on to say, "The Complaint should be dismissed because Sony has failed to demonstrate that this Court can exercise personal jurisdiction over Tencent Holdings," and more.

It "has failed to allege any specific facts supporting its claims against any of the three Served Defendants, has failed to plead essential elements of its trademark claims, and has failed to demonstrate that its chief claim – development of an allegedly infringing video game – is ripe for adjudication," according to Tencent. The company later reiterates this, writing, "Sony alleges no facts, nor introduces any supplemental evidence…"

Throughout its new response, Tencent makes various arguments about how Sony "fails to show purposeful direction," why "exercising personal jurisdiction over Tencent Holdings is not reasonable, how "Sony fails to allege any specific conduct by the served defendants," and much more. The company also notably replies to Sony's allegations of Tencent's "copying of Horizon's protected elements" in Light of Motiram, specifically Aloy.

"Fame does not create a trademark; to qualify as a trademark, a mark must serve as a source identifier for a particular good or service," declares Tencent. Talk about heavy… and there's likely still quite a long road ahead for the legal battle between Sony and Tencent to unfold. To think it all started after Light of Motiram, which itself is described as an open-world survival game, caught people's eyes (and evidently, Sony's) for its similarities to Horizon Zero Dawn.

Although developer and Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest went on to scrub any sign of robot mastodons and Aloy lookalikes from its Steam page, it wasn't enough – and now, we've just got Sony's next response to anticipate, I suppose.

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