Riot Games finally withdrew all lawsuits against Moonton for alleged copyright infringement.
History
The first time Riot Games filed a lawsuit against Mobile Legends was in 2017, for the supposed copyright infringement of their assets, in addition to stylistic similarities. Prior to this, Riot Games had reached out to Google to remove Mobile Legends from the Play Store. However, Moonton relaunched as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang before Google could take action. The court dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit in 2017. Tencent, which is currently the parent company for Riot Games, again filed a case against Moonton CEO Xu Zhenhua for allegedly violating the non-compete clause in his contract. The lawsuit settled for $2.7 million. Despite Tencent’s win against Moonton, the case details never revealed if Xu Zhenhua did in fact infringe on copyright. Riot Games still filed lawsuits against Moonton in the following years for a variety of reasons, including title card similarities – the Mobile Legends Bang Bang title card was updated the following year as League of Legends released its new logo in 2019.
Comparison of Art Styles
Moonton’s 515 Unite isn’t an exception to the similarities between the two franchises. It shares visual aesthetics with some sections of K/DA’s POP/STARS, and a closer examination reveals definite similarities in both the music and artistic style.
League of Legends’ virtual Kpop Group K/DA
Moonton’s 515 Unite
Just more recently, Moonton has released a new hero that closely resembles Riot Games’ Arcane character Vi. The new Mobile Legends hero Julian has been criticized by League fans as an amalgamation of League’s Sylas and Arcane’s Vi.
Moonton’s Guinevere Psion of Tomorrow skin also sparked comparisons, with its design having a striking resemblance to League of Legends’ K/DA Ahri skin.
Following ongoing legal disputes, Riot Games and Moonton Games have settled their differences under undisclosed terms.
