Riot Games suing over Teamfight Tactics ‘knock-off’

Riot Games is suing Vietnamese video game studio Imba Network for creating what California-based developer calls a “knock-off” of its League of LegendsAuto battler inspired by the Bible Tactical TeamfightingAccording to the lawsuit filed on Thursday. Riot accuses Imba Network’s game, I Am Hero: AFK teamfightYou can steal character traits, stories about the background, and so much more. Teamfight Tactics — You can even copy and paste character legends.

California’s Imba filed the lawsuit asking for a court order to prevent Imba selling the game or infringing upon the League of Legends copyright. Riot also seeks $150,000 per instance of copyright violation. Riot lawyers said in the lawsuit that it filed a cease-and-desist letter with Imba, with an “extensive but non-exhaustive side-by-side chart of copied characters and gameplay elements.” Imba denied copying from League of LegendsDeveloper Riot according to the suit.

Laid out in the lawsuit, Riot published side-by-side comparisons of various parts of each game, showcasing similar character designs and names — like Heimerdinger (League of Legends) vs. Dinger (I Am Hero: AFK-Teamfight(), Vi vs. Vy and Teemo Vs. Tomee.

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Sometimes, it appears that developer Imba copied and pasted text directly from another source. League of LegendsLore is used to complete character descriptions I Am Hero: AFK teamfight. Riot also lists similar icons and character capabilities elsewhere in the suit.

“Imba’s plan that potential customers would recognize the Infringing Game’s heroes was successful. Many players commented on the outright copying of LoL champions in the Infringing Game,” Riot’s lawyers wrote. The game currently has more than 10,000 reviews on the Google Play store, and nearly 250 on Apple’s App Store. Imba is an advertiser I Am Hero: AFK-Teamfight as an “idle RPG” with elements of auto-fighting games. It’s free-to-play, with in-app purchases.

Riot Games has taken on copycat games in the past; in 2018, Tencent Holdings (Riot’s parent company), won a $2.9 million case in Chinese court over Moontoon’s Mobile Legends. According to Dot Esports, it had filed the original lawsuit in California.

More recently, Riot Games agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-action gender-discrimination lawsuit that was filed following a 2018 Kotaku report that detailed widespread sexism at the company. A scam ring impersonating Riot Games is another matter that the company is fighting.