Representing Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., Ltd., Keker, Van Nest & Peters lawyers secured the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit filed by Riot Games, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Judge Michael Fitzgerald granted the firm’s motion to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds Tuesday, November 8, finding that China is a more appropriate forum for the litigation.
“For years, the parties have been litigating highly related copyright claims in China that raise many of the same issues that Riot is now trying to re-raise in the U.S.,” said Keker, Van Nest & Peters partner Ajay Krishnan. “It would have been duplicative, inefficient, and wholly unfair to proceed with this case in the U.S., where Moonton would lack access to key evidence and witnesses.”
Moonton is a Chinese video game developer that released the mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Riot Games is wholly owned by Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate, and with Tencent co-developed the mobile game League of Legends: Wild Rift. Riot Games claims Moonton infringes its copyrights in several elements of League of Legends and its promotional materials. In an attempt to stifle competition in the mobile games industry, Riot previously targeted Moonton with a similar copyright suit in 2017. Keker lawyers secured dismissal of that previous suit arguing that Riot’s lawsuit was intertwined with and inconsistent with a pending Chinese lawsuit filed by Riot’s parent company, Tencent.
“The question is whether circumstances have truly changed from those that existed in 2017 or whether Riot simply seeks a second bite at the apple, unhappy with the progress (or lack thereof) in the still on-going, parallel China litigation. The Court deems the latter to be the case,” Judge Fitzgerald wrote in his order.
“Tencent documents and witnesses will be critical, particularly since Tencent and Riot’s games are close analogues of each other; and Moonton vendors and former employees will be able to testify that its game features were independently developed, not copied,” said Keker, Van Nest & Peters partner Michelle Ybarra. “But if the case were to proceed in the U.S., Moonton has no way to obtain that evidence.”
The Keker, Van Nest & Peters team representing Shanghai Moonton includes Ajay Krishnan, Michelle Ybarra, Travis Silva, Ed Bayley, Chris Sun, Niall Frizzell, Maria Buxton and Jasmine Virk. The case is Riot Games, Inc. v. Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., Ltd., CV-22-3107, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.