UCool’s Super Bowl ad game Heroes Charge is ‘cut-and-dried’ case of copyright infringement

March 25, 2015Article
VentureBeat

Chinese developer Lilith Games announced this week that it is suing California-based studio UCool for copyright infringement. The suit alleges that UCool’s mobile game, Heroes Charge, almost directly copies nearly all aspects of Lilith’s game Soul Clash. Both are successful apps that have made a significant amount of money, but Soul Clash debuted in February 2014 and was a megahit throughout Asia before Heroes Charge debuted later that year. With mobile gaming generating $25 billion in revenue last year, many developers will do anything to get an edge. Simultaneously, studios are protective of their games, since it’s hard to duplicate success.

Intellectual-property lawyer Jesse Saivar of law firm Greenberg Glusker told GamesBeat that Lilith has a solid case.

“At the end of the day, a copyright claim usually comes down to access and substantial similarity,” said Saivar. “If one party had access to another party’s copyrighted work, and there is a substantial similarity between the two works, the accused may be found liable for copyright infringement.”

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