Rebirth of the Wild Age

During the U.S.-Iraq War, South Korea's Weimeide sued Excalibur Networks for infringement of Legend, and the trial was held at the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing. Moreover, this is the fourth trial of this case by an intermediate court, and the international lawsuit has been fought for more than a year.

Because Legend is extremely popular in China, every court session can attract a lot of media, and even the game industry and judicial circles have been watching, because the verdict of this lawsuit will have a far-reaching impact. As long as Excalibur Network's Legend is judged to be legal, then domestic game manufacturers will be able to reskin Korean online games and copy them vigorously.

The content of the lawsuit filed by Korea Weimeide is: Legend plagiarized Mir 2, infringing the plaintiff's exclusive rights to Mir 2. The defendant plagiarized as many as 294 items in terms of game characters, occupations, props, skills, scenes, and numerical values, and directly used the source code of the plaintiff. The defendant is required to stop the operation of Legend, destroy relevant data and materials, and stop For the promotion and sale of related products, the official website of the Legend game was closed, and a public apology was made, and relevant litigation costs were borne to compensate the plaintiff for economic losses.

Today, the First Intermediate People's Court announced the final result.

However, because commercial secrets were involved, several court sessions were held without public hearings, and the reporters could only stay outside and wait for news. This time I waited from morning to afternoon, and finally when the relevant personnel came out, the reporters immediately surrounded them.

Mr. Zhou, what's the result of the lawsuit?

Lawyer Qin, did Excalibur Network win?

Lawyer Zhang...

The representatives of the Korean company all had dark faces, ignored these reporters at all, and walked quickly to the car on the side of the road with their leather bags. On the contrary, the attorney representing the Korean side said: I have tried my best. From the first trial to now, this case has gone through one year and three months. No matter what the result is, it is of great significance to the Chinese judiciary and also to the future. Similar cases can be used as a reference.”

That is to say, the final result is that the defendant won? Will the plaintiff continue to appeal? The reporters asked.

The attorney said as he walked, Whether the South Korean side will continue to appeal, I don't know at the moment...

At the gate of the court, Zhou Hao, the representative of Excalibur Network, said with a smile on his face: The content of the Korean lawsuit is outrageous. Legend and Legend of Mir 2 are two completely different games. Say we use Korean Fang’s source code? It’s a joke in the world. Legend is a game engine developed by Jinshan Company Xishanju Studio, written in c language; while Mir 2 is written in other languages ​​using Bornd's delphi engine written. Two different game engines, two different computer languages, how could there be a possibility of copying the source code?

The reporter asked again: But Legend seems to have borrowed a lot of gameplay and data from Mir 2.

Zhou Hao said with a smile: If these things are to be sued, then Swordsman Love copied Legend of Sword and Fairy? According to this statement, Mir 2 itself copied Paradise, Paradise Also copied Diablo!

What about the game props? Some of the props in the two games even have the same name. The reporter asked again.

Zhou Hao suddenly filled with righteous indignation: Since you are asking about this, I must make a statement. All the props and equipment in Legend have been authorized by the original author for all the props and equipment in Legend. For example, the 'Jing Zhongyue' The weapon belongs to the original literature of Mr. Huang Yi, and we have obtained the exclusive authorization of Mr. Huang Yi. If the Korean version of Mir 2 dares to use the name Jing Zhongyue, then Excalibur Network Technology reserves the right to pursue its legal responsibility s right!

Have the Dragon Sword and Yitian Sword been authorized by Mr. Jin Yong? the reporter continued to ask.

Zhou Hao shook his head and said: As far as I know, the dragon-slaying knife comes from The Legend of Shushan Swordsman and Beihai Dragon-slaying Story by Huanzhu Louzhu. Yes. And the source of Yitian Sword is even earlier. In The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao's two swords are Yitian Sword and Qingzhi Sword, and they are called peerless swords. The work has also passed the period of literary copyright protection, so we don’t need to pay anyone else copyright fees.”

Another reporter persevered and said: But according to netizens who have played Mirror 2, they knew it was copied as soon as they entered Legend, because the two games are too similar.

Zhou Hao laughed and said, What's the coincidence? The story background of the game is different. Legend belongs to the eastern background, which is the mainland of Zhongzhou. We can also capture wild horses as mounts in our game. If Mir 2 also launched a mount system , can we also sue him for plagiarism?

Then how do you explain the agency contract offered by South Korea's Weimeide Company? the reporter asked.

Zhou Hao said: The president of our company, Mr. William Zhu, did act as an agent for Mir 2. But due to capital turnover problems, that agency company has long since closed down, and it has nothing to do with the current Excalibur Network Technology Company. Zhu Mr. William became the president of Excalibur Networks after he failed in his own business, and the Korean side can find another agent!

...

Of course, South Korea Weimeide has found a new agent, and it started looking for it as early as last year. Many domestic manufacturers are rushing and crying for an agent.

At that time, Guangtong defeated many Chinese counterparts, and the agency contract was about to be signed. Suddenly, it was discovered that the Korean side had launched Mir 3 (that is, Legend 3). Of course, Guangtong, which has made a lot of money, is unwilling to represent outdated old games, so after many negotiations and promises to increase the game's share, the Korean side finally handed over the agency of Mir 3 to Guangtong.

As soon as the final result of the Legend lawsuit was announced, the industry was in an uproar. Isn't this called plagiarism? Domestic games, from now on the road to copycats!

Guangtong also took advantage of this upsurge of public opinion and announced that it was the agent of Legend 3. The game has just started the pre-heating promotion, and before the public beta, Excalibur Network Technology Company suddenly issued an announcement: Regard Huadu Guangtong Communication Development Co., Ltd., Legend is an original online game independently developed by our company, and it is in line with Korea's beautiful The Legend of Mir 2 operated by German company has nothing to do with it. The Legend of Mir 3 represented by your company, please do not use Legend 3 as the game name, let alone mislead consumers into thinking that this is the sequel to Legend... Excalibur Network Technology reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility.

Not only that, Excalibur Network also brought the matter to the approval department. Guangtong's Legend 3 was stuck because of the game name.

It's so ugly to eat!

Not to mention copying other people's games by myself, but also ran out to get stuck in their sequels.

But then again, the IP of Legend is indeed made bigger by Excalibur, so what does it have to do with the Korean company?

Mr. Yang of Guangtong also has a strong background, he ignored the announcement issued by Excalibur Network, and continued to promote Legend 3 frantically, and even imagined that the name would pass the review. Until the beginning of April, the approval department gave a clear reply: Legend belongs to the registered trademark and game name of Excalibur Network Technology Company. Use of similar trademarks or names.

The arm couldn't twist the thigh, so Guangtong had to change the name of the game to Legend 3, which sounds like a copycat. But in terms of publicity, the sequel to Legend is still used as a gimmick, openly shouting slogans such as a different legend and a brand new legend.

This kind of publicity is of course possible, because Legend is a Chinese term.

However, Guangtong's Legend 3 has just started public beta testing, and was immediately sued by Excalibur Network. Because the weapon names in the game, such as Banyue, Wuji, Judgment, Purgatory, Broken Soul, and Lingfeng, are all original creations of Excalibur Networks and enjoy the corresponding copyrights. The Korean names in the game are not these.

In order to save trouble, Guangtong and Hanfang directly copied the Excalibur company's method when translating the game.

The lawsuit started again, this time Hanfang and Guangtong were suspected of plagiarism. Moreover, the evidence is solid, and the lawsuit ended after only half a year. The South Korean side was ordered to change the name of similar equipment in the game, compensate Excalibur for 8 million yuan in economic losses, and bear 2 million yuan in litigation costs.

Legend 3, which has only been in operation for half a year, was originally very popular with the gimmick of the Legend sequel, but its popularity plummeted because of the suspension of the service and the modification of equipment names. The day lily was cold when the server was opened, and Guangtong wanted to cry but had no tears.

Netizens who are familiar with the cause and effect all say that Song Weiyang is really awesome, and that the set of thief shouting stop thief is really slippery.

In fact, even if Excalibur Company didn't intervene, Legend 3 or Legend 3 would die miserably. Because Guangtong has no experience in online game operation, the game is full of cheaters, and there are more than ten accounts for one person to automatically kill monsters. Looking around, the map is full of robots. How long can this kind of game survive?

...

Lao Song, congratulations on winning the lawsuit! Xiao Ma brought Tencent game personnel to visit at the end of March.

This is the only visit in history, except that the person that Brother Ma visited was Chen Tianqiao. Tencent's main profit point is the online SMS business, but the competition in this field is becoming more and more fierce, so Xiao Ma naturally focuses on online games. But he has no experience in this, so he led a team to visit Chen Tianqiao, hoping that the industry leaders can give some advice.

After Xiao Ma explained the background, Song Weiyang smiled and said, I'll make a call later, and you can go to Rongcheng to talk to Zhu Weilian, and you can also learn from the operation team of Excalibur Company.

I plan to go to the EA exhibition in May to see it in person, Xiao Ma suddenly said, Actually, I have already taken a fancy to a Korean online game called Triumph, a 3D game built with Unreal Engine 2. But I I heard you said that rough and simple online games are needed in the domestic market, but I'm afraid this Triumph is too complicated. So I want to hear your suggestion.

Song Weiyang said: The game needs to be rough and simple. Two years ago, everyone didn't know much about it. But now it's different. There are already a large number of people. Playing Legend and killing monsters is very boring. Now I want to make a slightly more complicated game. It's time for casual games.

In other words, 3D online games like Triumph still have great prospects? Brother Xiao Ma took a reassurance.

Song Weiyang said: But I want to remind you that it is best to get the source code as an agent for Korean online games. Otherwise, bug fixes and version updates will drag you to death. Kimchi game bugs are flying all over the sky. Everyone knows this.

I'll give it a try, but I'm afraid it's hard to get it. Little Ma said with a wry smile.

This has to be blamed on Song Weiyang. Originally, Korean game companies were unwilling to provide the source code. The Korean side could not find an agent for Legend, so they agreed to release the source code only after William Zhu offered a super-high agency commission contract. of. Now that Excalibur copied other people's games and won the lawsuit, how could the Korean manufacturer still give the source code? They are afraid of creating a second Legend!

Song Weiyang said: Let's be an agent first, and train the team. In the future, we still need to develop it ourselves.

Brother Xiaoma said again: In terms of operation and promotion, in addition to those routines on the market, I plan to do 'playing games to get QQ number', what do you think?

A very powerful strategy. Song Weiyang laughed.

Applying for a qq number at this time not only requires a fee, but also limits the number of registrations, so you may not be successful if you want to register. If that student in the class can apply for a QQ account for others, then he is definitely the most popular handsome boy in the class.

In history, many people rushed to send QQ numbers to play the game Triumph, the first online game represented by Tencent. After Tencent announced the news, nearly 200,000 people signed up for the closed beta a day at the highest point. It has to be said that Tencent has taken advantage of the promotion of new products with the big killer of QQ.

It's a pity that Triumph is a Korean online game, and there are too many bugs. The equipment disappeared inexplicably, the characters disappeared inexplicably, and the data became abnormal from time to time, reducing the number of online users by 90% in half a year.

This year is a year for the Chinese online game market to take off. New games are launched every month, and sometimes four or five games are launched in the same month. Stimulated by the huge profits of Legend, cats and dogs all jumped into it. Under Zhang Chaoyang's decision, Sohu launched Knight OL before the Spring Festival. So far, Netease, Sohu, and Jinshan, which Song Weiyang invested in, have launched games, Tencent plans to launch games, and even Ding Ming wants to represent a game.

Meanwhile, World of Warcraft is here!

After the release of Warcraft 3, Blizzard officially released World of Warcraft, which had been developed in secret before.

As soon as this news came out, although everyone didn't know what World of Warcraft looked like, let alone when the development of World of Warcraft would be completed, game manufacturers all over the world began to scramble for the agency rights, because its stand-alone Sister game Warcraft is too influential!

In China alone, there are dozens of agents who are out of their minds, and Vivendi executives frequently come to China for inspections, but they just don’t say who is going to be the agent of World of Warcraft.

In another time and space, after layers of screening, the scope of agents was finally narrowed down to Ninetowns and Guangtong.

Guangtong is still too young, Ninetowns secretly united with Singtel, Sohu and Intel to form a joint venture company to win the agency rights of World of Warcraft. As a result, World of Warcraft has not yet started the public beta, Ninetowns threw away Sohu and other partners, and won the exclusive agency right, don't be too ugly!

As for Song Weiyang's Shan Hai Jing, it is still in the process of hard development, and the cost has already exceeded 100 million yuan. There are more than 400 development members in each team, and more than 2 million yuan is spent every month just for salary. .

Although the progress of the game is slow, the results are very gratifying. Zulong Studio has successfully developed the Excalibur 3D Engine, which is even better than the engine of World of Warcraft. Of course, there is no need to be too proud, because the engine of Warcraft was not the most advanced at that time. The reason why the effect is so good is the art team!

World of Warcraft released the news of the selection of agents, Song Weiyang was taken aback, and hurriedly asked Zulong Studio to speed up the development.

Add bookmark for easy reading