Finnish mobile game developer Supercell famous for popular mobile games — Clash Of Clan, HayDay, and Clash Royale, was ordered by a federal jury held in Marshall, Texas last Friday to pay $92.2 million in damages to Japanese company Gree.
The federal jury noted Supercell had infringed on multiple patents owned by Gree. They found Supercell had infringed 6 patents and earned $3 billion using those patented features from Gree in their mobile games.
Gree accused that freemium Supercell titles such as Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Hay Day have all incorporated technology protected by the patents. Gree is the founder of “gacha” type games that employ a freemium model with an emphasis on having a lot of “pay to win” features embedded into the game.
While Supercell denied using any of the technology protected by Gree in their games and called the patents invalid. The jury rejected Supercell’s claims and declared the infringement was willful and ordered Supercell to pay three times the amount set out by the verdict.
In a statement released by the company, Supercell said:
Supercell respects the jury system but is of course disappointed in the verdict. Supercell plans to appeal.
This is the second such trial that took place between Supercell and Gree. Last year in September, Gree was awarded $8.5 million for a similar infringement against Supercell for infringing on 5 patents. Similarly, Supercell had denied using the patented technology in any of their games last year.
A third trial is also set between the two firms and is scheduled to take place later this year.
Recommended | Shroud wants Riot to delete the Judge in Valorant
