GREE vs. Mobage Town: You stole our fishing game!
A short FTV news report about a lawsuit filed by Japanese mobile gaming service Gree against its main rival, Mobage Town (DeNA):
GREE says a fishing game they developed has been copied by DeNA for their mobile social gaming platform Mobage-town, which has the largest user base among any mobile-only social network in Japan (14.5 million at the end of June 2009 vs. GREE’s 12.6 million at the same time). Specifically, DeNA is accused of having copied elements like the game’s top page or the fish-catching game mechanics.
GREE seeks an injunction and damages, saying DeNA is violating copyright and unfair-competition laws. Japanese media are reporting that both companies have been negotiating over this issue for months now until GREE finally decided to take the rival to court today.
As you can see from the demonstration in the video, the fishing games are very similar. The Mobage version looks like it is a bit more complex. It would be hard to imagine that the Mobage developers were not at least “inspired” by the GREE game.
(Disclaimer: FTV aired a commercial for GREE less than 5 minutes after this news report. )
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