The Pokémon Company Wins $15 Million Copyright Lawsuit Against Game That Copied Pokémon Characters

The Pokémon Company has won around $15 million in a copyright lawsuit against a Chinese company that appeared to blatantly use Pokémon characters in its game.

As reported by GamesBiz and translated by Automaton, The Pokémon Company announced its success in the lawsuit over Pocket Monster Reissue, also known as Koudaiyaoguai Fuke, a turn based role-playing mobile game alleged to include characters such as Ash Ketchum and Pikachu.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court has acknowledged the copyright infringement and ordered one of six companies accused to pay 107 million Chinese yuan (around $15.08 million) in damages. Three of the remaining six companies were ordered to bear joint liability but have filed an appeal.

Pocket Monster Reissue launched in 2015 and appeared fairly popular, having earned upwards of around $42 million in a single year according to The Pokémon Company, as reported by The South China Morning Post in 2022.

The game featured seemingly unaltered Pikachu artwork from the Pokémon Yellow box as the app icon, while other branding for the game featured what appeared to be Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Tepig, and Oshawott, again unaltered. Gameplay of Pocket Monster Reissue from perezzdb on YouTube shows myriad other familiar characters and Pokémon in what appears to be intended as a remake of the original games.

The Pokémon Company is fairly cut-throat with its copyright lawsuits but some targets, perhaps including Pocket Monster Reissue, are more blatant about its influence than others.

A former chief legal officer of The Pokémon Company said in March that it doesn't actively seek out fan projects to shut down but only did so when they crossed a certain line.

There are multiple examples of Pokémon fan projects being issued takedown notices despite this. In 2018, a popular fan-made creation tool players used to build their own Pokémon games bit the dust. In 2021, support for a Pokémon fan project called Pokémon Uranium ceased after nine years of development. And in 2022, The Pokémon Company removed almost all videos of a fan-made Pokémon hunting FPS that went viral on YouTube and social media.

Though not a fan project, the popularity of "Pokémon with Guns" game Palworld had many comparing it to the Nintendo classic. The Pokémon Company only released a fairly tame and generic statement in response though: "We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon." Lawyers told IGN a lawsuit was unlikely.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.