Original title: "Pikachu" wants to defend its rights?

Public company sued for allegedly infringing a popular game, still available for download years ago

　　"Since you asked the question sincerely, we will tell you with great mercy!"

　　This is a classic line from the famous cartoon "Pokémon", and I believe that many post-80s and post-90s can recite it back and forth.

　　"Pokémon" also has various translation names such as "Pokémon" and "Pokémon". It is adapted from the Pokémon series of games released by Nintendo of Japan.

After the cartoon was broadcast in China in 2002, it has become a childhood memory of many people, especially the images of Pikachu and Duck, which are liked by many people.

　　However, recently, the A-share company Zhongnan Culture was sued by Japan's "Pokémon Co., Ltd." because one of the company's games was considered to infringe its game copyright.

　　Pokémon Co., Ltd. then sued the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, requesting that Zhongnan Culture and five other related companies be ordered to compensate 500 million yuan for economic losses.

The amount involved is 500 million yuan

　　Zhongnan Culture is mainly engaged in cultural media and machinery manufacturing.

The cultural media sector specifically includes film and television drama investment, distribution, copyright development and operation; game research and development, agency, etc.

　　On the evening of August 31, Zhongnan Culture announced that the company and six companies including Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Valueshang Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. ”) to sue.

　　The plaintiff Pokémon Co., Ltd. is the owner of the rights related to the series of video games "Pokémon".

The plaintiff found the same game titled "Pokemon Reissue" ("Pocket Journey") on major mainstream mobile app stores such as Apple's AppStore, Huawei's App Store, and Tencent's App Store.

The plaintiff believes that there is a lot of content in the game that infringes the game copyright of its right holder.

　　The plaintiff believes that since the first operation of the above-mentioned game in 2015, the development, distribution, operation and promotion of the game without the permission of the plaintiff or the relevant rights holder violated its relevant copyright rights and constituted an act of unfair competition.

　　The announcement shows that at present, Pokemon Co., Ltd. has filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court on the above matters.

There are 6 claims in total, and the core content is to ask the 6 defendants:

　　1. Stop the infringement, that is, stop operating, publishing, providing, and promoting the infringing games involved;

　　2. Apologize through prominent positions on Sina.com, Sohu.com, Apple Appstore, Tencent App Store and other mobile application platforms, as well as its own official website, social media and other websites and platforms;

　　3. Compensate RMB 500 million for the economic losses suffered by the plaintiff.

　　Zhongnan Culture said that the case has entered the litigation process and has not yet been heard in court, and it is temporarily unable to judge the impact on the company's profits.

The company will actively organize responses to the lawsuit and resolutely safeguard the interests of the company and its shareholders.

　　In 2021, Zhongnan Culture will achieve an operating income of 482 million yuan, a net profit of 207 million yuan attributable to the parent, and a loss of 136 million yuan after deducting non-net profit.

Used to be an important source of income for the company

　　The game involved in this case dates back to 6 years ago.

　　In April 2016, Zhongnan Culture fully acquired the mobile game publishing company Valueshang Interactive for 870 million yuan in cash and equity.

　　According to the 2016 annual report of Zhongnan Culture, the company's business at that time included TV dramas, artist brokerage, copyright operation, games, etc.

Among them, the game business mainly comes from Valueshang Interactive.

　　In 2016, Valueshang Interactive achieved a revenue of 307 million yuan and a net profit of 99.36 million yuan.

At that time, the net profit attributable to the parent of Zhongnan Culture was only 229 million yuan.

　　In the 2016 annual report of Zhongnan Culture, it was mentioned that Valueshang Interactive has shipped more than 50 mobile game products, and its key products include "Pokemon Remastered" ("Pocket Journey") and so on.

In December 2016, the monthly turnover of the game exceeded 30 million yuan, and the cumulative turnover has exceeded 300 million yuan.

　　In 2017, the revenue of Valueshang Interactive, which mainly focuses on the mobile game distribution business, reached 335 million yuan, and its net profit further rose to 122 million yuan.

It accounted for 41.6% of the net profit attributable to the parent company of Zhongnan Culture that year.

Games such as Pokemon Remastered are the main source of revenue.

　　In 2018, the game's revenue was still 84.94 million yuan, accounting for 27.47% of the company's game business revenue, and it was also the company's highest-earning game.

　　However, as a game that has been released for many years, "Pokemon Remastered" has gradually reached the second half of its life cycle.

After 2018, the game was almost never mentioned in various announcements of Zhongnan Culture.

　　At the same time, 100% of the equity of Valuesun Interactive held by Zhongnan Culture was auctioned by judicial auction at the end of 2019. The shareholder of Valuesun Interactive was changed to Ping An Trust, and Zhongnan Culture and Valueshang Interactive no longer had any equity relationship.

　　After 2019, the game business revenue of Zhongnan Culture has dropped sharply, and it will almost return to zero in 2021.

　　Specific to "Pokemon Remastered", a reporter from Securities Times e Company noticed that the game can still be downloaded normally in the application market.

　　Taking Huawei App Market as an example, a game called "Pocket Journey" can be found in the market and can be downloaded normally.

The developer of the game is Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd., one of the defendants.

　　The game introduction shows that the game is a casual game of pet development and battle. The way to play is to freely capture "elf" and create a pet team, which is suitable for people over 12 years old.

However, in the Huawei App Market, the game has only a total of 70,000 installs.

(e company)