Pokemon Company wins $15 million copyright case against 6 Chinese companies who developed 1 creature-catching RPG that flew too close to the Solrock

Pokemon Sun and Moon anime screenshot showing Pikachu, a small yellow creaure with bright red circles on his cheeks and lengthy pointy ears — (Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

An alleged Pokemon clone has just cost its developers and publishers a whopping $15 million following a copyright infringement lawsuit from The Pokemon Company.

Pokemon, one of the most beloved Nintendo franchises, has unsurprisingly spurred countless clones throughout the years - but not all of them have resulted in a costly lawsuit like Pocket Monster Reissue has. The turn-based mobile game was originally launched in 2015, containing various alleged plagiarized designs from characters like Ash Ketchum to literal Pokemon, such as the ever-iconic little Pikachu himself.

Today, The Pokemon Company announced that it won the case as the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court found Pocket Monster Reissue to be in violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. One of the six Chinese developers and publishers involved was ordered to pay over $15 million in damages, while another three are to bear joint liability - although the three are now filing an appeal against this decision.

This isn't the first time the Pokemon brand has taken legal action against alleged clones, and it likely won't be the last. Back in January, Nintendo targeted PokeZoo - another game featuring seemingly blatant ripoffs of Pokemon's own assets and designs. Thankfully, there are plenty of games like Pokemon to play out there that aren't legally ambiguous - and I'll personally be sticking to those.

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.