Developers sued over alleged 'League of Legends' knock-off are now crying fake news

The developer behind League of Legends has filed a lawsuit against mobile game developer Shanghai Moontoon Technology alleging copyright infringement. Moontoon is not happy that the lawsuit is getting publicity.

Riot Games filed a lawsuit last week against Moontoon for its games Magic Rush: Heroes, Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, and Mobile Legends: Bang bang, which Riot claims infringe on its League of Legends copyrights.

Each of the Infringing Games contains (or at one time contained) a vast array of elements that were directly and deliberately appropriated from LoL, including but not limited to LoL’s characters, artwork, map designs, and unit and monster designs. And, to add insult to injury, Moonton marketed and distributed certain of its games with a logo that is confusingly similar to Riot’s LoL logo, using the exact same font and color scheme as Riot’s LoL logo.

In its lawsuit, Riot mentioned it already attempted to stop Moontoon's infringing of their games, and that Moontoon's resulting actions made it appear that the company was aware of its infringement.

After Riot discovered Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA and notified Google that the game was infringing, Moonton purported to remove the game from the Google Play store. But that was simply a subterfuge. Immediately after removing Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, Moonton (without notifying Riot or Google) released a 'new' game, Mobile Legends: Bang bang. However, Mobile Legends: Bang bang was not a new game at all, but in fact was the exact same game as Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, with some modest changes.

After news of this lawsuit against Moontoon began to spread, Moontoon released a statement on the Mobile Legends: Bang bang Facebook page, saying that its own intellectual property is independent from Riot's. It also calls out unnamed media that have reported on the lawsuit and threatened legal action against them.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Taking a look at Moontoon's game, they do appear to resemble the design of League of Legends. In its lawsuit, Riot brings up specific examples of alleged infringement, including similar playable characters, character and world design, user interface, and game logos.

Whether Moontoon is actually infringing on Riot's copyrights will be determined by the Central District of California court. If the court sides with Riot, the company is asking for $150,000 in damages for each infringement.