First made public in May this year, Blizzard Entertainment and Valve launched a lawsuit against China developer Llith Games and publisher Longtu Games for copyright and trademark infringements in character designs found in the mobile game, Legend of DOTA. The heavyweight claimants have issued a joint statement, announcing their intention to continue their legal claims in China.
While the defendants claimed innocence, the IP laws in China has strengthened in the past year, hence the outcome of this lawsuit will be heavily scrutinized. Legend of DOTA is also known as Dot Arena in Southeast Asia, Soul Hunters in Europe, Soul Clash in Japan, and Dotop Story in South Korea. Several of these versions have since been updated with new character designs to avoid more lawsuits.
