Lawyers, assemble!

Update (11th Sep, 15:30 BST): Koei Tecmo Games has been ordered to pay approximately $1.3 million in compensation after it was ruled that the company had infringed upon two of Capcom's patents.

The case was first opened back in 2014 (see below), with Capcom arguing that the two separate patents had both been infringed upon. At the time, the judge only recognised the claim for the second patent, but a new ruling has agreed with both of Capcom's claims. The settlement will cost Koei Tecmo roughly ¥144 million, ¥130m of which is to cover damages, with the other ¥13.1m covering Capcom's legal fees.

In a press release, Capcom notes that it believes the decision "demonstrates sound legal judgement".

You can read more in our original article below.


Original Article (26th Aug 2014, 22:15 BST): Capcom has taken Koei Tecmo to court in Japan in relation to patent infringement and is seeking a settlement of $9.43 million. The first oral arguments were heard today in Osaka District Court.

The first patent named in the lawsuit was filed by Capcom in 2002 and relates to "a function that lets you acquire new content by combining an existing game with another piece of software." Capcom has listed 50 Koei Tecmo titles that infringe on this patent alone. While the details are still unclear, it would appear that this patent relates to expansion packs or DLC of some kind.

The second patent is related to controller vibration due to the proximity of foes.

Capcom is claiming that Koei Tecmo has profited around $93 million by infringing these patents, and is trying to gain a licensing fee of between 5 and 10 percent. It is also looking to force a withdrawal of certain Koei Tecmo titles — presumably some of these will be for Nintendo formats.

Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series is cited as one of the series which infringes Capcom's patent. The company has recently worked with Nintendo to produce Hyrule Warriors, a Zelda-themed spin-off which uses the core framework of the Dynasty Warriors game engine.

[source eurogamer.net, via capcom.co.jp, gamesindustry.biz]