Bank of Innovation — the Japanese developer behind the idle mobile RPG Memento Mori — has received a lawsuit from Sega Corporation, which seeks damages for multiple alleged patent infringements.
As reported by Gamesindustry.biz (via the Otaku Research Institute), Sega — obviously most famous for Sonic the Hedgehog — is suing the mobile RPG developer over multiple titles, of which Memento Mori is one, for ¥1 billion in damages (that's around USD$6.63 million) and an injunction against the idle RPG and other related content.
The two companies have reportedly been in ongoing discussions, but they weren't able to reach an agreement. Bank of Innovation denies any infringement and will defend itself, as well as continue to run Memento Mori regardless of the outcome of the case. However, from the lawsuit alone, Bank of Innovation's stock has dropped almost 18% since yesterday's announcement.
Five patents, all registered in Japan, have been named in the lawsuit — 5930111, 6402953, 6891987, 7297361, and 7411307. According to Automaton Media, these are all related to gacha game mechanics which are apparently widespread in the genre, with analyst Serkan Toto stating that one of the patents relates to character card fusion.
If you're not clued up on what Memento Mori is, then fear not — the game first released on iOS and Android in 2022. Praised for its beautiful art and music, the game focuses on Witches, girls with special powers. You play as a Lord who can help the Witches, who are running away from a Witch Hunt commenced by the Inquisitors.
Every Witch has their own song — sometimes referred to as Live 2D concerts — and all of them are written and performed by famous Japanese singers. Those songs are really the main draw of the game, with gameplay being limited to tapping the screen, as is common with AFK RPGs.
Sega's lawsuit has drawn the eyes of many, especially given its focus on gacha mechanics. It's also the second big Japanese company to sue for patent infringement in recent months, following The Pokémon Company's lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair.
[source 0115765.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 40
So this is the Sega version of the Nintendo Palworld lawsuit and yet people say Sega is not like Nintendo.
IP and patent laws are a farce.
Sega trying to one-up Nintendo lol. I hope this isn't the start of going after others (fan games) as well. Corporations do what corporations do I guess.
“Sega - obviously most famous for Sonic the Hedgehog” is such an unnecessary line 😂
@axelhander yet few people campaign and vote for legislation changes because that's so much more hassle than craptalking publishers in on social media or even making a coin or two from that on YouTube.
Bummer, so there's going to be a chain of these now? No more game mechanics
Momento Mori...? I've stopped playing that one a week after it got released in 2022. Apparently, idle RPG's, or AFKRPGs, aren't really my thing...AT ALL.
On topic though...why go after them...? Then again...I don't understand lawsuits honestly.
Company name: Bank of INNOVATION
Game: Tapping the screen
This is exactly what I was fearing when the Palworld lawsuit came up - I have reservations even on IP laws, but patent ones are even more dangerous for gaming...
Sega does what NintenDo(?!) 😏
Why are people acting like this is new?
SEGA has always gone after infringements on non-Sonic media.
I find it baffling that people immediately shun a company just because they want to defend what they believe is rightfully theirs.
Leave it up to the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong.
Hard up for cash, are they?
To be clear, the patents are NOT for "gameplay mechanics". They are for coding and technical processes that support the mechanics.
Gameplay is not covered by patent law, it's covered by trademark. And trademark law clearly says that no gameplay element or mechanic is eligible for protection.
@JohnnyMind
I'm not sure I understand your concern. Patents have very little to do with gaming in general, and the patents in question are all related to technical processes which SEGA invested billions to develop and license to other companies. They have nothing to do with "gameplay". Gameplay isn't something you can patent.
Patents are an important vertical (revenue stream) for gaming developers (or any software company), because it means if you invest time and effort into solving a problem, like for example, how to handle multithreading on phone chips that don't support it by default, you can sell that innovation even if the value it adds to the one project you are working on is minimal.
More importantly, it's means that if someone like me, who has no connection to a large company and just codes in my spare time, comes up with something useful ... I can protect it. Without patents no one could ever do that. You couldn't even try and sell your innovation because as soon as you explained what your innovation did to a large company, they would just steal it.
I have two software patents. Dose that makes me an evil person who is destroying gaming?
Patents are always available to use at market value. You can't "deny" a patent. They do not gatekeep anything. Lawsuits come from people using them without disclosing that, not from the patent owner not being willing to license them. Based on the number of DLs, the licensing few SEGA set for these patents is around 0.003 USD pre use.
Hardly world ending.
6 million dollars? That's like one or two month's worth of revenue for the game? They could easily just shake down the whales to pay for it.
@HeadPirate
How can you say they have very little to do with gameplay when these technical processes would be the foundation of gameplay?
If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, then Nintendo would be in the right for claiming ownership over the act of putting a live animal in a game into a self-contained spatial storage like a Pokeball, which seems like bull to me. They'd have to get in line behind Xianxia authors first.
There's something I want to be clear on - are you claiming that Nintendo has a right over the concept itself based on a bit of coding, or are you saying they have a right over a very specific "coding syntax" for lack of a better word?
@nhSnork Not a problem that can be voted away, unfortunately.
"However, from the lawsuit alone, Bank of Innovation's stock has dropped almost 18% since yesterday's announcement." I hope you remember this if you lose, Sega
@Lightsiyd
Gameplay Machinic - "Catch things in balls"
Patentable aspect - This exact data format https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Save_data_structure_(Generation_IV)
How to make a game where you catch things in balls without violating the patent - Use a different format for your data.
Alternate solution - Use the same data format and pay Nintendo a couple of cents for every unit you sell.
Only way to get sued - Use the exact same data format but try and hide it from Nintendo so you don't have to pay.
If you have any other questions, I'm more then happy to answer them, but if I'm being honest I could really do without the jumping to the worst possible concussion part.
@HeadPirate What I fear is that the bigger companies involved in these lawsuits won't win because the other companies' games actually contain the specific technical processes at the base of these mechanics, but simply because they have more money to sustain the increasingly higher legal expenses and so we'll see more and more suing even if the mechanics are similar on a surface level - seeing Sega suing Bank of Innovation only after Palworld's case despite MementoMori coming out in 2022 could be just a coincidence and they might have a genuine case (and the same could be true for Nintendo/The Pokémon Company), but the timing is suspicious to say the least...
@JohnnyMind
I feel ya, but at the same time, that's just how the law works. You have no particular problem with patents, you're just concerned with how capitalism corrupts a legal system. Couldn't agree more on that part.
In order to sue for patent violation, you have to have a patent, and you have make a preliminary case for violation by proving that the infringing product at least COULD violate your patent.
To sue for copyright or trademark infringement you can point at someone and scream "GIVE ME YOUR MONEY".
So if I have a ton of money and just want to sue someone for stealing my "idea", I have to use IP law unless I already obtained a patent, and the patent needs to be valid.
Trademarks, by definition, are only obtainable by large companies seeing they are dependent on recognition. Patents are obtainable by anyone.
So one system is extremely subjective and only benefits the megarich. The other is much more structured and benefits everyone, at least in theory. It's hard to make an argument that the second one is worse.
Also there are, on average, 15 software patent suits filed every single day. I do not find the fact that two of them over the course of a month both relate to gaming companies odd at all. If you looked into all patents filed in the months before the Palworld suit, I'm sure you'll find dozens that targets video games. The only difference is reporting on them back then wouldn't generate engagement. That's the only thing Nintendo going after Palworld changed.
@HeadPirate I don't think that's the only way to get sued, but for the rest, I appreciate the information, thanks.
My concerns were all stated as questions, and I asked for clarification in the final bit, so I think it's a bit of stretch to say I jumped to the worst possible conclusion.
@Lightsiyd
No judgment, I'm just trying my best to make the discourse here as pleasant as possible for as many people as possible.
"There's something I want to be clear on - are you claiming that Nintendo has a right over the concept itself based on a bit of coding, or are you saying they have a right over a very specific "coding syntax" for lack of a better word?"
I would suggest that you're going to get a lot better traction if you instead word that as "Can you explain exactly how having patent for game code works". Including a phrase like "are you claiming" is by nature confrontational, and is a tactic used in aggressive discourse to force a person to defend themselves instead of focus on the argument they made. A lot of people might be put off by it and answer your question with similar aggression.
@HeadPirate I apologize for any misunderstanding my phrasing may have caused, as it was not my intention. At the same time, you should also be able to infer how the possible implications of what you seemed to be saying may have caused me to be very put off.
@HeadPirate
Isn't exactly that which could involve the gameplay mechanics on a surface level then or am I missing something?
But yeah, what you said is exactly what I'm concerned about in general and in this specific case applied to (gaming) patents despite how it should work in theory as you mentioned - the difference compared to copyright/trademarks is exactly why many me included were quite surprised to see Palworld's lawsuit being about patents instead of those.
I might have jumped the gun by connecting this to Palworld's case, but that's because I'm worried about the consequences of that, especially depending on how the one winning that lawsuit and now this one as well will do so as I seriously doubt they won't have consequences considering how big Nintendo and Sega are in terms of precedents or even just others copying their examples unlike when it comes to way more frequent but much, much smaller cases as much as I hope to be proven wrong.
A billion here, a billion there.
@PessitheMystic But I never knew who that company was! Thank the Lord for that side note!
This game actually looks interesting. I’d try it if I ever get a new phone. But what exactly are they suing over? Aren’t there lots of Gacha games that allow cards to be fused or something?
What the??? Sega, just why. This is not cool.
I don't normally like automatic battle games, but Memento Mori is just really great regardless with those beautiful animations, that they made the automatic battles look amazing.
@JohnnyMind
Let's say I'm Nintendo. I patent a bunch of ways to transfer and store data about creatures in my creature collecting game.
Then Palworld comes out.
If I think that it's too similar to my creature collecting game, I would need to turn to TRADEMARK law, not patents. And trademark law would tell me I'm out of luck, because you're allowed to copy gameplay elements all you want.
But I could still sue them for Trademark violation, knowing I would lose. I could then ask for a settlement that is lower then the cost of litigation. Give me $500,000, or I'll make you spend $1,000,000 in court. This is common. This happens all the time. It would be a gamble in this case because if the defendant had enough money, they could use anti SLAPP laws to sue to recover legal costs.
To sue for patent violation, I first need to file for discovery and look at the games code. This costs me a LOT of money, because I need both legal and technical experts. Once I find data formats or data transfer protocol that look like the ones I have a patent for, I file a notice of intent, giving the defendant an opportunity to "show their work' on how they independently developed the systems. Only after they fail to do so can I sue.
You can't just target someone with a patent suit. There is a lot of leg work involved. It is much easier to just target someone with an IP violation. Another important point is that the judgement in patent lawsuits are MUCH lower. This suit is for $6 million. Most corporates lawyers wouldn't get out of bed for that much! That's because all you can sue for is the market value of the patent. With IP law, you can sue for whatever value you assign to your IP, and tack on punitive damages up to a percentage of the total net worth of the defendant.
For me the important part of this story is the fact that there exists an organisation called The Otaku Research Institute. I can just picture the place now. Rows upon rows of scientists and academics, gathered around anime superfans. Some with microscopes and specimen jars, others just there to watch, learn, and theorise. But all with the unshaking faith that the next world-changing breakthrough is just around the corner.
I forget, is it okay when Sega protects their property? I thought they get a pass because Sonic Mania was made by fans of Sonic and Nintendo won't let fans make Pokemon games so they don't get a pass.
@HeadPirate So if I got it correctly they straight up look at the game's code (I guess of the game as a finished product, not the source code) and if they can find data formats/data transfer protocols that share enough similarities with the ones they have a patent for then they can sue after giving the opportunity to the defendant to defend themselves preemptively - I guess there must be other ways to defend themselves during the lawsuit other than "showing their work" then because if that were the only way then it wouldn't make sense to not do so immediately or trying to find an agreement to at least pay less like Yuzu did for example.
Uh oh, Sega got Segajas in the mist, look out...
@Coalescence It make sense for Nintendo to not allow fans to make Pokemon games cause Nintendo themselves doesn't fully own Pokemon. They are just a partner that own a fraction of the IPs but not all of it. They got permission or license from the IP owner from the Pokemon Company to make Pokemon games. When fans are illegally making their own version of a Pokemon game then they are infringing on Nintendo's rights meaning they get to do it without paying for licensing or getting permission and also they are silently competing against Nintendo while stupidly pretending they aren't. This is why Nintendo could take them down.
The Sega Sonic situation is different, Sega fully own the Sonic IP and if they allow fans to be able to make Sonic fan games then it shall be allow and Sonic fans won't get punish for doing so but if another partner wants to make a Sonic game and they came to Sega first to get that license or permission then the fan made stuff had got to stopped cause then they are competing against Sega's own partner thus why Sega or their partner will have the rights to go after any fans who tend to violate that.
@HeadPirate Thank you for the very insightful information on this topic!
I feel like people often jump to conclusions without really understanding why patents exist in the first place. Thanks for shedding some light on this matter.
@8bit-Man
Thanks for the shoutout, it means a lot to me.
I think people's hearts are in the right place. We only ever hear about large corporations suing people, and no one is writing any articles about how Kelly from Montana patented some novel idea and lived off the residuals.
When bad news is all we get, it's easy to assume all news is bad.
@Coalescence
lol yeah, I was wondering where the mass outrage is for this. It's like Nintendo is the only company that isn't allowed to act like every other company does.
Coming to this weeks late, but I didn't see anybody say it, so I'm gonna.
More like Bank of Imitation, amirite?
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