There are only two certainties in life: Death, and that if there is a product in existence, China has ripped it off and claimed it as its own. Now you can find a ripoff of just about anything in China, including MMO Fallout as I recently discovered. Litigation against these companies is generally extremely difficult, if not impossible, in part because copyright infringement apparently does not translate into Mandarin. I say this with the full knowledge that any time I talk about China being infamous for ripping off products, that MMO Fallout will probably be hit with a surge of attempts at breaking into the site. Twenty six thousand attempts in April, and still going strong.
World of Tanks developer Wargaming is taking the fight head on by filing a lawsuit against the developer of Project Tank, Chinese companies Changyou and Gamease. So how does a company steal a game based on tanks that existed in reality? By using the exact same historical inaccuracies and stealing the tanks that did not exist as well, according to Wargaming.
“Copying is evidenced by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied historical inaccuracies found in WOT, each of which does not affect gameplay but which was included in WOT to simplify the tank modelling and rendering process. Copying is further evidenced by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied tanks from WOT that never existed in real life, and which included features original to WOT.”
The Project Tank closed beta has been shut down with a message calling Wargaming’s litigation “bullying.” Wargaming is seeking damages and an injunction against Changyou.
(Source: Polygon)