Chapter 462 A great victory
Soon, the situation became turbulent.
The two founders of Riot Games were stunned when faced with the subpoena. Compared to Brandon Baker's slow reaction, Marco Merrill directly noticed the key to the problem.
They quickly hired lawyers and first consulted about certain clauses in the gambling agreement to confirm how much they would pay if they lost the lawsuit.
According to the provisions of the gambling terms, if "Riot Games" causes unauthorized infringement and causes losses to the game project, then Party A (that is, the investor) will receive the highest prize of 70% of the company's shares.
Before signing the agreement, the two people specifically consulted a lawyer to understand the ownership rights of DOTA.
This is a bad debt in itself, and even if Blizzard comes, they won't be able to sue them.
Since the largest IP related party has no chance of winning the lawsuit, it is basically a sure thing, and others will have no legitimate reasons and legality to compete for ownership rights.
Moreover, taking ownership of the DOTA IP is indeed beneficial to Riot Games in attracting investment. Edward Damon increased his valuation of the company at that time.
On the one hand, it is real money investment, on the other hand, it is a small probability event.
It was a completely harmless thing, how could Feilongqian lose?
But no one expected that just a few days later, the situation would take a turn for the worse, and someone would suddenly appear to compete for DOTA's IP.
Now when I checked the terms of the bet, I found that every one of them was full of pitfalls. The two founders stomped their feet in regret.
But they can't just bet on contracts when things are good for them.
Business is business, and a contract is a contract, and they are all protected by law.
It was determined with the lawyer that if they lost the lawsuit, they would suffer heavy losses.
After that, things become simple. How can I win the lawsuit?
Although the lawyer helped them assess the risks before they signed the betting contract, the two were still panicking.
After confirming with the lawyer again that they had a high probability of winning the lawsuit, they relaxed a little and began to actively deal with the lawsuit.
First of all, Guisuo, one of the parties involved, was gathered over and was first scolded by the two founders.
Then the two bosses forced him to compile evidence to prove that the DOTA IP belonged entirely to him.
Guisuoren was also dumbfounded. He had never thought that he would encounter such a thing. It was obvious that DOTA was a game made by himself, so why didn’t the IP belong to him?
At this point, he could only honestly start collecting evidence and prepare for a lawsuit.
If you don't prepare well, you may lose. This is no joke.
Guinsou didn't have the money to hire an expensive lawyer. If the other party spent a lot of money to hire a lawyer, he might easily defeat his own lawyer.
After all, there is a clear gap between a lawyer who makes a few hundred dollars an hour and a lawyer who makes tens of thousands of dollars an hour.
Another person involved in the incident, Pencil Long, got the news last. He only realized something was wrong when he found someone scolding him on the forum.
Facing the overwhelming attacks and accusations from DOTA players, Pencil Dragon panicked and immediately opened his permissions.
First the post was deleted, then the account was banned, and all posts attacking him were blocked.
This operation angered more DOTA players, and more and more users flooded into the forum and posted crazy posts of abuse.
In the end, Pencil Dragon couldn't delete it anymore, so he directly activated the big ban, banning the entire forum's posting permissions.
The forum has gone quiet, and the popularity of this matter on Facebook has skyrocketed.
The DOTA group on Facebook quickly established a player committee, and everyone began to vote for player representatives, and then crowdfunded for a lawyer.
No matter who the DOTA IP belongs to, as long as we can win against Pencil Dragon and Guinsou, we players will definitely help!
As a third party, Facebook played a major role in this. Not only did it give the event a high level of popularity, it was also willing to sponsor a sum of money to the DOTA Players Committee to fight the lawsuit.
Many lawyers also volunteered and even litigated the case for the DOTA Players Committee for free.
The powerful network once again came into play. The "DOTA Players Committee" found Eul, the founder of DOTA, and Neichus, a member of the production team, who had long since retired. In addition, Ice Frog was also willing to testify in court.
In order to increase the chances of the lawsuit being successful, the "DOTA Players Committee" also launched a signature petition on Facebook.
Soon, DOTA enthusiasts from all over the world gathered in the Facebook DOTA community and signed their signatures in support.
Blizzard, who had been standing by for a long time, suddenly jumped out and said that DOTA has a deep connection with itself. In fact, they are the real owners of DOTA.
The player quickly turned his gun and gave Blizzard a slap in the face. Then Blizzard immediately said that although DOTA is mine, we are willing to share it with players for free.
Then, Blizzard also hired lawyers and actively participated in this DOTA battle.
TNB, Riot Games, Blizzard, and the "DOTA Players Committee" are all fighting, and the northwest of the United States is in chaos.
……
A week later, the Seattle local court officially opened.
Local DOTA players in Seattle spontaneously rushed to the scene to cheer and raised banners to protest outside the court. Reporters from more than a dozen media outlets even came to interview.
In court, TNB Company directly presented evidence that the two IPs of DOTA and dota-allstars were registered by them as early as December 2003. This is officially certified by the United States.
When TNB's lawyer presented the official legal documents, Riot Games was immediately confused, and Guinsou, who appeared in court, was stunned.
At that time, before he took over DOTA, the other party had already registered it.
He couldn't stop himself if he unleashed this ultimate move. Originally, he could still rely on being said to be the father of DOTA to give him a try, but now he's plagiarizing others.
Riot Games' lawyers are also confused. How can we fight this lawsuit?
When Blizzard's lawyer saw that something was wrong, he immediately suggested that his client cut off the lawsuit. There was definitely no chance of winning the lawsuit, so it was better not to get involved.
So Blizzard chose to withdraw decisively, and then issued a touching statement, saying that it decided to give up fighting for the DOTA IP for the sake of the players.
After deliberation, the "DOTA Players Committee" decided to continue the lawsuit.
Because the name DOTA was created by the game founder Eul in October 2002, when he also built the first-generation official community.
The committee’s lawyers feel that this is a tenable piece of evidence, which at least proves that DOTA has a creator and was registered earlier than TNB.
At least, they can still compete.
However, Riot Games is definitely out of business. Although the lawyers they hired presented a lot of evidence showing the relationship between Guinsoo and DOTA, the court directly ruled that they lost the case.
Riot Games has violated TNB's rights and interests, and they have no right to use the two IPs of DOTA and dota-allstars.
The official forum of dota-allstars will either be renamed or transferred to TNB.
A representative of TNB told reporters at the entrance of the court that the reason why we initiated the lawsuit was not for money, but to defend our legitimate rights and interests.
Regarding the demands of the "DOTA Players Committee", TNB stated that it can communicate and negotiate.
After negotiation and communication, TNB quickly reached a settlement with the Players Committee.
TNB stated that the official forum of dota-allstars belongs to the entire player group. As for the two IPs of DOTA and dota-allstars, they will authorize them to third-party game companies for use. All proceeds are used to build player communities, establish formal official events and award competition prizes.
At this point, TNB, Valve, DOTA, several development team members, and the majority of players are very satisfied.
Blizzard is purely here to make trouble, and has no losses other than scolding and legal fees.
Riot Games is the biggest loser. Seeing that they are about to lose 70% of their shares, the two founders are not willing to admit defeat.
They directly appealed in the Los Angeles court. If you can't win in Seattle, can I still not win in Los Angeles?
Then the Los Angeles court quickly ruled that they supported the Seattle court's decision, and Riot Games once again lost the case.
doublekill!
TNB company directly stated that if you are not satisfied, you can continue to appeal, and you can choose any court in the United States.
After realizing the gap in strength, Riot Games had no choice but to give in.
Brother, I’m convinced, I don’t want the DOTA IP anymore.
It wasn’t mine anyway, so I looked away.
You don’t need to use the IP, but if you lose the shares, it’s a real loss.
There is no mistake in every song, one post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, take a look!
The two founders reluctantly accepted the beating of reality and obediently handed over 70% of their shares. Fortunately, they still had some shares left and did not lose all.
As for the person involved, Guinsou, apart from losing the lawsuit, his reputation among the DOTA player community is pretty much ruined. The player committee has already expelled him from the list of DOTA creators.
Frustrated, he once wanted to resign, but was finally retained by Riot Games.
Having already lost to this point, the only chance to make a comeback is to make the game, otherwise it will be a complete loss.
As for the other person, Pencil Dragon, he lost the most completely. As the instigator, both Riot Games and the player community hated him.
He was quickly removed from Riot Games, and the company released a statement that it was cutting him off.
The Players Committee also publicly ruled that this person is a scum and traitor in the DOTA community and has been added to the permanent blacklist.
Pencil Dragon's biggest reliance was the player forum, and now it has been deprived of all permissions, and even its account has been permanently banned.
With resentment and unwillingness, he silently disappeared from the Internet.
TNB quickly signed a cooperation agreement with Valve, entrusting Valve to develop DOTA, and the "DOTA2" project was officially launched.
At the same time, several other members of the DOTA development team announced that they would join Valve and be responsible for presiding over the development of the project.
……
When the Seattle court made the ruling, Qin Shaoyan and others had already embarked on their journey back to China.
Zhang Pingyi was surprised after learning the final result, "I thought you were going to kick out the founder of Riot Games completely."
"Now is not the time." Qin Shaoyan explained with a smile, "I still need them to put up the framework of the entire project to get the project on track. At the same time, until a new producer is found, the two of them are still useful."< br>
"Continuous additional financing in the future can easily squeeze them out. There is no need to go to war now, as it will affect the project."
"What about Guisuo?" Zhang Pingyi asked, "Why do you still keep him?"
"This person is a little stupid, but he is still useful." Qin Shaoyan casually took the juice handed over by Mingyue and took a sip. "I still need someone to check and balance the production team of "DOTA2"."
""DOTA2" must have it, and "LOL" must also have it."
"The stage has been set for them. Whoever can stand up on their own must rely on hard power."
Qin Shaoyan said with emotion, "Who is the king of MOBA? Let Hayek's master test the rest."
"You are now using the strategy of raising gu." Zhang Mingyi was very surprised.
Qin Shaoyan said before that he would do whatever project he wanted to do, and he never failed.
Now Qin Shaoyan no longer makes games himself, but has begun to form different teams for one type, focusing on one.
"I have a lot of things to do, so I have to focus on attracting investment." Qin Shaoyan said seriously, "I can't control the details in detail, I can only leave it to the team to figure out."
"There are gaps between people, and so are the abilities of the team."
"Let the teams compete among themselves, and the winner they roll out first can better adapt to the market."
"Furthermore, games of the same type also have different positionings. For example, the two FPS games "Counter-Terrorism OL" and "CSOL", one focuses on low threshold and is suitable for players' leisure and entertainment, while the other focuses more on competitiveness and is suitable for experienced players. .”
"The same principle applies to "DOTA" and "LOL". DOTA is fun, but the threshold for entry is too high. The operations of positive, negative, and troop control, as well as terrain cards and field of vision, are enough for ordinary players to learn. “It’s been a long time.”
“If we want to promote it and attract more players, we must lower the threshold of the game.”
Zhang Pingyi thought about it and felt that what Qin Shaoyan said made sense.
In the field of games, he can completely trust Mr. Qin's vision and judgment.
"This trip to the United States was full of rewards." Qin Shaoyan looked at the clouds outside the plane, feeling relaxed and happy.
He used to be very annoyed about traveling abroad by plane, but now he enjoys the journey a little bit.
After all, one visit is less than once. It is estimated that he will not be able to go abroad in a few years.
This time, not only did the campus network successfully go public, but it also cashed out part of its shares in Facebook, giving it more liquidity.
I also successfully won the two projects "DOTA2" and "LOL", and I have two more good cards in my hand.
"The most important thing is that we won the lawsuit." Qin Shaoyan raised the juice with a weird smile on his face, "This shows that we still have many friends in the American judicial circle."
Zhang Minyi was surprised, "Have friends in the American judicial circle? What's so exciting about that?"
"You don't understand." Qin Shaoyan replied nonchalantly, "We may have to come to the United States more often to litigate lawsuits in the future. So far we have maintained a winning streak, which is very helpful."
Zhang Minyi definitely didn't understand, and Qin Shaoyan didn't explain further.
"Zhang Tianshi, you will have to work hard for a while after returning to China." Qin Shaoyan quickly changed the subject and said seriously, "The campus network is going to make big moves again."
"Although the company is already listed, this is just the beginning."
"Some people have been criticizing Campus Network's stock price for being artificially high, which is very detrimental to the company. We must be responsible to investors and shareholders."
Zhang Pingyi suddenly became serious, "What do you want to do?"
"Next, we need to expand the number of users on the campus network and break it out of the circle." Qin Shaoyan said, "Do you know web games?"
(End of chapter)