Heroes Charge into Copyright Battle - Lexology
Video game developers Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
and Valve Corporation sued Lilith Games Co.
Ltd and uCool, Inc.
for copyright infringement under…
Heroes Charge into Copyright Battle Blog Patent Arcade.
Video game developers Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
and Valve Corporation sued Lilith Games Co.
Ltd and uCool, Inc.
for copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C.
§ 101 in a complaint filed September 8, 2015.
The case was brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Blizzard and Valve are the developers of well-known video games such as World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and Dota 2.
They allege that Lilith and uCool's mobile games impermissibly copied the characters, "settings, terrain, background art, and other assets" from Plaintiffs' video game franchises.
uCool, acting for itself and not Lilith, moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Claim for Relief, as that was the sole claim against uCool, or alternatively moves for a more definitive statement.
Initially, in a decision issued on December 8, 2015, the Court granted uCool's motion to dismiss with leave to amend.
The Plaintiffs allege that the mobile video games created by Lilith and uCool, "DotA Legends" and "Heroes Charge," infringe on Plaintiff's copyrights in the Warcraft Works.
In their complaint the Plaintiffs did not expressly specify any allegedly infringing settings, terrain, or art, but they do assert that "almost every one of the hero characters available in the Lilith Games," which were then copied as well by uCool, are "two-dimensional version[s] of a character either from one of Blizzard's games" or from Dota 2.
Plaintiffs also allege that many of the characters in "Heroes Charge" are substantially similar to Blizzard and Valve's characters.
In their complaint for relief, Plaintiffs requested that the Court grant, preliminary and permanent injunctions, "monetary relief … including actual damages and/or Defendants' profits, or statutory damages for copyright infringement and willful copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C.
§ 504," and attorneys' fees.
The District Court first addressed the question of standing.
To establish a claim for copyright infringement a plaintiff must plausibly plead two elements: 1) ownership of a valid copyright, and 2) copying of constituent parts of the work that are original.
While Lilith and uCool alleged the Plaintiffs lack standing because one or the other might own the specific copyright at issue, the Court concluded that all asserted works are owned by Blizzard or Valve.
Similarly, the Plaintiffs identified many allegedly infringed copyrights.
As for the copyrightability of Plaintiffs' characters, ordinary characters are not generally entitled to copyright protection.
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