Blizzard is suing Chinese company Sina Games for alleged infringement of its Warcraft intellectual property.
In alawsuitfiled in California this month (viaPolygon), theWorld of Warcraftmaker claims Sina’sPCand mobile game Glorious Saga is a “blatant Warcraft knock-off”.
The suit features several side-by-side comparisons showing similarities between Warcraft’s and Glorious Saga’s characters, and a mobile icon for Glorious Saga “that plainly is intended to look like” the cover of the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth.
“Defendants’ infringement ofBlizzard’s copyrights is willful, deliberate, and brazen,” the suit alleges. “Defendants did not just copy a few discrete elements from Blizzard’s Warcraft games; they created a game whose content is almost entirely copied from the Warcraft games and related products.”
It adds: “Every monster, creature, animal, and vehicle in the Infringing Game was copied from the Warcraft games. Weapons, amulets, and other objects were taken straight from the Warcraft games, without pretense. Audio cues and sound effects from the Warcraft games were reproduced for the Infringing Game.”
Blizzard is seeking a court order to stop the infringement, plus damages, attorneys’ fees and the transfer of profits made by Sina Games “in amounts to be proven at trial”.
Shares ofActivision Blizzard hit a nine-month highon Tuesday following the release ofWorld of Warcraft Classic.
