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NEWS: Konami Sues Cygames Over Uma Musume Pretty Derby Game

Gotta guess - Konami got salty because of all the missing profits considering Uma Musume is one the hottest things in the Japanese market despite it's already there for more than a year, and gone patent trolling by the congeniality of their own Winning Post?

God damn, that's pathetic if it's just that.

The system of the game resembles Monster Rancher. Now even the review pages of the new Monster Rancher game say Monster Rancher is the one that copied Uma Musume, even though MR has had that system since the 90s…

Though I’m guessing Winning Post would be the one they’re bickering about lol

WANNFH wrote:

Gotta guess - Konami got salty because of all the missing profits considering Uma Musume is one the hottest things in the Japanese market despite it's already there for more than a year, and gone patent trolling by the congeniality of their own Winning Post? God damn, that's pathetic if it's just that.

The system of the game resembles Monster Rancher. Now even the review pages of the new Monster Rancher game say Monster Rancher is the one that copied Uma Musume, even though MR has had that system since the 90s…

Well, people thought it's over the family-tree skill training patent used by Power Pro... except that patent expired in 2020, a year before Uma Musume game came out.

mewpudding101 wrote:

WANNFH wrote: Gotta guess - Konami got salty because of all the missing profits considering Uma Musume is one the hottest things in the Japanese market despite it's already there for more than a year, and gone patent trolling by the congeniality of their own Winning Post? God damn, that's pathetic if it's just that. The system of the game resembles Monster Rancher. Now even the review pages of the new Monster Rancher game say Monster Rancher is the one that copied Uma Musume, even though MR has had that system since the 90s…

Monster Rancher would be Tecmo (Koei Tecmo) though rather than Konami.

CyberAgent's announcement noted that Cygames had been in discussions with Konami regarding patent rights for the "game system and program" of Uma Musume Pretty Derby, but that Konami did not accept Cygames' opinion, thus leading to the lawsuit.

The Uma Musume Pretty Derby game launched in February 2021

Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs.

Glordit wrote:

Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs.

Well, that's the whole point - the game exist for over 2 years now, so if they wanted to sue just for the sake of rights protection (think the Nintendo/COLOPL case of Shironeko Project which Nintendo won, where COLOPL tried to patent the control scheme that Nintendo already patented since the DS days for themselves (so that include payments from the other companies as well to them instead) only to get Nintendo lawyers in their way) - they have probably done it much earlier, but this case really came out of the blue and reeks of blatant greed.

CyberAgent's announcement noted that Cygames had been in discussions with Konami regarding patent rights for the "game system and program" of Uma Musume Pretty Derby, but that Konami did not accept Cygames' opinion, thus leading to the lawsuit.

Sounds good for Konami! They're going to release a handful of Silent Hill games in the future and are rumored to announce a MGS3 remake this year. Now they're using Cygames over Uma Musume. Konami is on a roll in their redemption arc. We don't need more self-insert trash like Idolmaster and Uma Musume that are a couple of Japan's greatest embarrassment. Kinda ironic for Uma Musume considering that it need GBF codes just to stay alive. What a shame, it could have been so much better without that crappy male trainer self-insert thing.

If Konami is uptight about other companies making successful games, maybe Konami should try making games again instead of relying on gambling and lawsuits?

Glordit wrote:

Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs.

Well, that's the whole point - the game exist for over 2 years now, so if they wanted to sue just for the sake of rights protection (think the Nintendo/COLOPL case of Shironeko Project which Nintendo won, where COLOPL tried to patent the control scheme that Nintendo already patented since the DS days for themselves (so that include payments from the other companies as well to them instead) only to get Nintendo lawyers in their way) - they have probably done it much earlier, but this case really came out of the blue and reeks of blatant greed.

Glordit wrote:

Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs.

Well, that's the whole point - the game exist for over 2 years now, so if they wanted to sue just for the sake of rights protection (think the Nintendo/COLOPL case of Shironeko Project which Nintendo won, where COLOPL tried to patent the control scheme that Nintendo already patented since the DS days for themselves (so that include payments from the other companies as well to them instead) only to get Nintendo lawyers in their way) - they have probably done it much earlier, but this case really came out of the blue and reeks of blatant greed.

WANNFH wrote:

Glordit wrote: Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs. Well, that's the whole point - the game exist for over 2 years now, so if they wanted to sue just for the sake of rights protection (think the Nintendo/COLOPL case of Shironeko Project which Nintendo won, where COLOPL tried to patent the control scheme that Nintendo already patented since the DS days for themselves (so that include payments from the other companies as well to them instead) only to get Nintendo lawyers in their way) - they have probably done it much earlier, but this case really came out of the blue and reeks of blatant greed.

FTA-

Quote:

CyberAgent's announcement noted that Cygames had been in discussions with Konami regarding patent rights for the "game system and program" of Uma Musume Pretty Derby, but that Konami did not accept Cygames' opinion, thus leading to the lawsuit.

We don’t know how long these discussions have been going on, and litigation is a slow process.

WANNFH wrote:

Glordit wrote: Why wait 3 years and then decide to sue instead of asking for some kind of interdiction before the game launched? I'm just making assumptions here, but Konami probably saw the dollar signs and decided to wait until the geese came home to roost so they could get those golden eggs. Well, that's the whole point - the game exist for over 2 years now, so if they wanted to sue just for the sake of rights protection (think the Nintendo/COLOPL case of Shironeko Project which Nintendo won, where COLOPL tried to patent the control scheme that Nintendo already patented since the DS days for themselves (so that include payments from the other companies as well to them instead) only to get Nintendo lawyers in their way) - they have probably done it much earlier, but this case really came out of the blue and reeks of blatant greed.

I don't know if the amount of money made from any infringement is a factor over in Japan, but I could easily see it being something that they would want to use in a potential settlement. Cygames makes good money off of it, and Konami might end up "allowing" the use of the claimed patent in exchange for a slice of that. On Cygame's end, since they have a known money maker, forking over a cut might be preferable to potentially losing and having the shut down the game.