As news broke of Mobile Legends creators Shanghai Moonton Technology being on the back end of a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the company chose to publish a statement on their title’s Facebook page.
Lambasting the media for publishing “unreal” reports, the strongly-worded announcement defends Moonton’s “independent intellectual property rights” and reassures its player base that they will continue to receive “the best gameplay experience”. The statement ends with a thinly-veiled threat at those who reported the details of Riot Games’ legal actions… with legal action.
When news of Riot’s lawsuit broke on Reddit and social media, the general consensus was that Mobile Legends’ replication of League of Legends’ features was so blatant and consistent that the claims were as justified as they were inevitable. And while it has been noted that there are some caveats to an apparently otherwise straightforward case, it is worth pointing out again just how distinct the apparent emulation is. The following is taken directly from a screenshot of the lawsuit filed against Moonton:
These are just some examples from the many given in the very thorough 44-page document.
Whilst Moonton has every reason to be defensive – there are potentially millions of dollars at stake, after all – aggressively calling out the media for reporting the lawsuit is a poor move. A simple portrayal of verifiable facts is hardly grounds for libel. The best part of the company’s statement was a detail picked up on by GameRevolution:
In the Facebook post featuring the statement on Mobile Legends‘s page, you can see the revision history by clicking the ‘Edited’ button. This will show you the original text that went along with the statement image, which simply reads, “We will fight against slanderers to the bitter end!”
Esports Insider says: A wonderful display of professionalism from the game development company. We shall have to investigate whether there are grounds for a lawsuit which can be used to threaten a lawsuit-threatened company who threatens those who report on their lawsuit with a lawsuit.