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.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, Pocket Monster Reissue earned upwards of $42 million within its first year, eventually sparking a $72 million copyright infringement lawsuit and demands for public apologies from The Pokemon Company in 2021. The case was filed against six Chinese companies - the six companies that were involved in developing and publishing the game in question.
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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