News

Sega Sues Bank of Innovation for 1 Billion Yen in Patent Suit

Sega filed a patent infringement lawsuit for injunctive relief against Japanese game developer Bank of Innovation (BOI) on Monday, alleging that BOI violated five of Sega's patents. Sega is seeking 1 billion yen (about US$6.6 million) in damages.

Sega alleged that BOI violates five Sega patents in two BOI games, namely MementoMori and Genjū Keiyaku Cryptract. BOI said that it had attempted to negotiate with Sega prior to the filing of the lawsuit, but that both companies could not reach an agreement. BOI maintained that it did not violate the patents, and that no matter the outcome of the lawsuit, it will continue to run MementoMori.

The patents that Sega alleges BOI is violating are specifically patents JP 5930111, JP 6402953, JP 6891987, JP 7297361, and JP 7411307, all of which relate to mechanics and user operation of so-called gacha games (often called "social games" in Japan), common in smartphone games, where players are given a number of daily chances to acquire gameplay-affecting items (in-game characters, items, etc.) of various rarities, and player are able to use money to purchase more such chances (colloquially "rolls"), either directly or indirectly (by instead using the money to purchase an in-game currency that is then used to buy rolls, among other in-game benefits). Specifically, some of the mechanics mentioned include the "fusing" of items or characters acquired through gacha and gacha "pity" systems (a frequently opaque system used in such games that can guarantee the acquisition of a limited-time character or item after the player rolls an unspecified number of times without acquiring the item).

Sega filed a patent lawsuit over certain uses of the Nintendo DS system's touchscreen in Level 5's Inazuma Eleven soccer role-playing game series in December 2012.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair at the Tokyo District Court on September 18. The suit claims that the game infringes on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's patent rights, and seeks an injunction against infringement as well as compensation for damages. Pocketpair responded by stating it is "unaware of the specific patents [it is] accused of infringing upon, and [it has] not been notified of such details." The company stated it will begin legal proceedings and investigations into the claims.

Source: Gamebiz, IT Media News via Yaraon!, J-PlatPat