Nintendo accuses Colopl of infringing five patents in one game. The company is demanding $47 million in compensation
The Japanese corporation Nintendo is suing the developer of the mobile White Cat Project. The main claim of the company is that Colopl violated five patents at once in the game. For this, Nintendo wants to recover $47 million.
The proceedings began five years ago. In 2016, Nintendo accused the authors of the White Cat Project of using proprietary solutions. Throughout the year, Colopl tried to negotiate with the corporation, but without success. Nintendo was not satisfied with the explanations of the developers, and in 2018 she filed a lawsuit.
The trial is still ongoing. However, while initially Nintendo demanded payments of ¥4.4 billion ($41.7 million) from Colopl, a few days ago this amount increased to ¥4.95 billion ($47 million). The Japanese explained their decision by saying that the trial lasts too long and legal costs have accumulated during this time.
Which patents exactly did Colopl violate in the White Cat Project:
- control using a virtual joystick on touch-screen devices;
- multi-user connection features;
- a special shadow display effect when characters are visible behind in-game objects. This was, for example, in the three-dimensional games of the Mario series;
- a way to automatically aim at enemies when you tap on the screen.
Colopl is still confident that Nintendo’s claims are groundless. At the same time, last February, the developers announced a change in the management system in the White Cat Project. But in their opinion, it was not related to the lawsuit and patents.
