Based on spreading false information and fabricating facts, MOONTON sued Tencent for a commercial defamation dispute against Mobile Legends. According to the China Judgement Documents Network, the case of MOONTON suing Tencent over a commercial defamation dispute got finalized recently as the court passed the judgement that Tencent stands responsible for constituted commercial defamation and for compensating the plaintiff MOONTON, a total of $31,000 (220k Chinese Yuan) needs to be paid within 10 days from the date of judgement and also clarified the relevant parties in writing about the commercial slander involved in the case.
Tencent vs MOONTON is a long ongoing battle
MOONTON was established in 2014, earned fame, and has been a well-reputed organization in the overseas gaming market, particularly in Southeast Asia. The 5v5 tactical competitive mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang earned remarkable results when it was launched in 2016.
The game earned huge profits after its release and is currently at the top of the best-selling list with above 90 million active users all over the world and is even called a “national game” in some countries. Mobile Legends also referred to as MLBB surpassed Tencent’s Honor of Kings in the Southeast Asia during this period and became the dominant name in the market.
In 2021, MOONTON and ByteDance came to an official strategic acquisition agreement which resulted in ByteDance acquiring MOONTON‘s game business and maintaining independent operations.
MOONTON was founded by Xu Zenhua and Yuan Jing. These two names had joined Tencent in 2007 and 2008 and were in charge of R&D and operation of “Free Fantasy”, ” Xuanyuan Legend” and “Tribal Guard” series of games.
While Xu Zenhua was working for Tencent, he also founded MOONTON. Having been informed about the matter, Tencent sued Xu Zenhua for violating the non-compete agreement and further argued that even after signing the non-compete agreement, Xu Zenhua had set up an organization by himself without authorization and that he had a direct competitive relationship with Tencent. In 2018, MOONTON’s founder Xu Zenhua had to compensate Tencent 19.4 million yuan (~ $2.7 million) for violating the non-compete agreement.
Earlier this year, Tencent’s subsidiary Riot Games also sued MOONTON’s MOBA game Mobile Legends for plagiarizing League of Legends product infringement.
Mobile Legends Commercial Dispute: Dissemination and Fabrication of facts by Tencent caused serious damage to MOOTON’s business
In 2019 MOONTON counter-attacked and took to Tencent to court for spreading and disseminating false information and for creating unnecessary unfair competition thus leading to the spreading of false information that was inconsistent of facts and which hindered the cooperation between the plaintiff and relevant partners.
This behavior caused huge losses and inflicted serious damage to MOONTON’s business reputation. And as the final ruling is out by the court, Tencent is ordered to pay 220k Chinese Yaun ( ~ $31k) to MOONTON for causing this commercial defamation.
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