Sony has dismissed Tencent’s latest filing over its Horizon Zero Dawn copyright lawsuit as “nonsense,” insisting “the damage is done – and it continues.”
It also accused Tencent of trying to copy the “look, sound, characters, and narrative” of Sony’s Horizon franchise, which included hiring Horizon Forbidden West’s composer, and infringing not just Aloy as a character, but as a symbol for Sony’s PlayStation brand.
Back in July, Sony filed a copyright lawsuit against Tencent. In court papers filed at the time, Sony demanded a jury trial for copyright and trademark infringement and to prevent the “imminent” release of Tencent’s upcoming title, accusing it of “rip[ping] off” Horizon lead Aloy, “deliberatedly causing numerous game lovers to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series with encountering Tencent’s promotional game play videos and social media accounts.” Shortly thereafter, Tencent made several changes to Light of Motiram’s Steam page and its promotional art.
Then, last month, Tencent disputed Sony’s claims that its upcoming game Light of Motiram is a “slavish clone” of its tentpole Horizon series, claiming the latter is not “fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property” but is instead attempting to “transform ubiquitous genre ingredients into proprietary assets,” insisting Light of Motiram is merely making use of “time-honored” tropes that are outside “Sony’s exclusive domain.”
Now, as spotted by The Game Post, Sony refutes Tencent’s claims that its legal case is “unripe” just because the latter delayed the release of Light of Motiram, and called Tencent’s game a “knock-off” for which “Tencent refused to accept any responsibility.”
‘Tencent remarkably contends SIE’s claims are unripe because – despite having announced and continuously promoted its game for months – Tencent (purportedly) delayed Light of Motiram’s release until 2027 after SIE sued. This is nonsense. The damage is done – and it continues,” Sony wrote.
‘Although the public expressed confusion and outrage upon discovering Light of Motiram for the knock-off that it is, Tencent remained undeterred. Tencent continued promoting its infringing game over SIE’s objection, and Tencent refused to accept any responsibility over its conduct.”
Sony also accused Tencent of designing a “shell game with its brands and entities” Aurora Studios, Level Infinite, and Proxima Beta, but insisted the Chinese firm remains “at the helm.”
“After SIE was forced to sue, Tencent attempted to avoid liability by playing a shell game with its brands and entities,” Sony continued. “Tencent tried to shield Defendants that it owns and/or controls from service of process and now seeks to escape jurisdiction over the parent entity, Tencent Holdings.
“Tencent Holdings describes its own business as having a Games division that ‘own[s] Aurora Studios’ – the Light of Motiram development studio. Tencent Holdings reports all of its revenue and debt from games on its annual report without attribution to any subsidiary. And it uses the name Tencent to advertise its games, like Light of Motiram – without distinguishing between subsidiaries.”
Sony also derided Tencent’s effort to “trade off of the Aloy’s Character Mark’s goodwill and reputation,” claiming it was “so egregious that numerous journalists and Horizon fans noted the striking similarities between the Aloy Character Mark and Tencent’s use of the Aloy lookalike, stating Tencent’s lookalike ‘resembles Aloy to a tee – red hair and all.'”
“Light of Motiram – a knock-off game so blatant that the public loudly decried the obvious and pervasive copying of Horizon’s protected elements – jeopardizes Horizon’s continued success, including current expansion plans for the franchise,” Sony added.
“The copying was so egregious that numerous journalists and Horizon fans called Light of Motiram ‘a major Horizon rip off,’ ‘an obvious knock off,’ a ‘copycat’ with a main character that ‘resembles Aloy to a tee,’ and ‘extremely similar to Horizon Zero Dawn.'”
Sony closed by asking the court to deny Tencent’s motion to dismiss. The case continues.
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