The dispute regarding Mobile Legends between MOONTON Games and Riot Games may have come to an end.

In a brief statement, MOONTON Games announced that the ongoing lawsuits between them and Riot have been settled.

“MOONTON Games and Riot Games have reached a global settlement on their intellectual property disputes,” MOONTON announced in its press release.

“After several rounds of communication, the two parties officially signed a settlement agreement recently, and Riot Games decided to formally withdraw the related lawsuits,” the statement ends.

As of press time, Riot Games has yet to send a statement regarding their own settlement of the lawsuit.

 

THE LEGAL BATTLES

 

Riot Games and MOONTON have been in legal disputes since 2017, when the former alleged the latter of copying in-game elements from Riot’s MOBA title League of Legends.

Riot brought the Chinese developer to court for allegedly copying LoL PC elements to the mobile-oriented MOONTON title, at the time called Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA. At the time, a U.S. court ruled that the case was best brought to China. 

Moonton, however, was asked by the American court to pay US$2.9 million and the game was temporarily removed from various platforms.

Shortly after, a revised version now known to the world as “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” was released and is still the game being played today.

In May 2022, Riot filed another lawsuit against MOONTON, where the former alleged the latter once again of copyright infringement. This time, the lawsuit was about how Moonton allegedly copied elements from the mobile port of League of Legends, Wild Rift, and its accompanying promo materials.

Riot developed League of Legends for the PC market in 2009, and the esport title still continues its global presence to this day. League of Legends: Wild Rift, its mobile port, has been released in 2020.

MOONTON, meanwhile, launched Mobile Legends in 2016 and has remained a consistent esports presence in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines.