The court sided with Blizzard in the case of Overwatch plagiarism by a Chinese publisher
Blizzard and NetEase won a plagiarism case by 4399 Network. The latter is a Chinese publisher who released MOBA Heroes of Warfare.
Overwatch
The court concluded that 4399 Network did use elements of someone else’s intellectual property in two titles. Both Heroes of Warfare and Gunway Battlefront, released in 2017, are noticeably “
In particular, the design of maps, characters and their poses, weapons and UI elements were copied. For example, a comparison of Heroes of Warfare and Overwatch is in the video below.
The case was handled by the Shanghai District Court. He satisfied the joint claim of the developer and the local publisher of Overwatch for $ 569 thousand.
The plaintiffs also demanded to close both games. At the moment, only Heroes of Warfare is active — it will be closed. Gunway Battlefront was removed shortly after the release, even before the trial began.
An interesting point: the 4399 Network defense line in court was based on the fact that Overwatch itself allegedly borrows many elements of earlier games. Therefore, they do not belong to Blizzard, the authors of Heroes of Warfare noted.
We add that in parallel Blizzard is suing the Chinese Sina Games. The latter is accused of copying elements of Warcraft.
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