Finnish mobile game development company Supercell was recently in the news after it was sued by Japanese game maker Gree Inc. Gree filed for patent infringement against Supercell. The latest update will surely upset the Clash Royale and Brawl Stars fans. The court has denied dismissing the patent violation lawsuit. Supercell was trying to invalidate an entire portfolio of patents that Gree has asserted its own.
What is the actual issue?
Japanese developer Gree sued Supercell and claimed of the infringement on its patents with Clash Royale and Brawl Stars. Supercell strongly denied the claim as it was affecting its market reputation.
Gree mentioned that Clash Royale infringes both U.S. Patent No. 10,518,177, which relates to a “game control method,” and U.S. Patent No. 10,583,362, which relates to “changing battle card game conditions during different terms.” Both the patents broadly describe a method of managing a time-limited group battle through time slots to control battle conditions, reported Lexology
Is this the first time that Supercell has been sued?
Finnish major Supercell was first sued by Gree back in 2018. And demanded JPY 100 million (approx. USD 909,000) in damages from Supercell for the patent infringement by the layout editor of Clash of Clans. Supercell won the case as the court ruled that the layout editor doesn’t infringe Gree’s patent.
Then what is different this time?
This time, the court ruled that they can’t straightaway accept the request for dismissal of the lawsuit. The Finnish firm claimed that the “distribution of software to users” is not sufficient enough to infringe upon the patents.
What will happen next?
Gree presented sufficient evidence against the claim that Supercell controls the end-user devices. The case is ongoing, and we will provide updates on the developments over the course of the lawsuit.
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