Alibaba Unit to Pay NetEase USD7.1 Million After Losing Game Copyright Case

A court in China has ordered Alibaba Group Holding’s gaming arm to pay video game giant NetEase CNY50 million (USD7.1 million) in damages after losing a copyright infringement case.

Three Kingdoms Tactics is an adaptation of NetEase's Infinite Borders, so its developer Alibaba Lingxi Games will have to correct the game content and pay NetEase compensation, NetEase said yesterday, citing the first-instance ruling of the Guangzhou Internet Court.

Lingxi Games will appeal, according to the official Weibo account of Three Kingdoms Tactics.

This was not the only lawsuit over the two hit mobile strategy games, as there are other ongoing cases.

Guangzhou Ejoy Technology, the predecessor of Lingxi Games, was founded by former NetEase Chief Operating Officer Zhan Zhonghui. After being acquired by Alibaba in 2017, Lingxi Games launched Three Kingdoms Tactics in 2019. Infinite Borders came out in 2015.

Three Kingdoms Tactics ranked fourth for revenue in the Chinese App Store last month, according to data from Sensor Tower. Lingxi Games was the fifth-biggest Chinese mobile games publisher by revenue in April's global charts.

Last year, Three Kingdoms Tactics ranked 12th by revenue among Chinese mobile games overseas, and Lingxi Games ranked 10th among Chinese developers by revenue.

Meanwhile, Infinite Borders failed to enter the Chinese App Store’s list of the top 20 mobile games by revenue in April and the top 30 rankings of Chinese mobile games by overseas revenue last year.