(Image is illustrative)
First win (PFG vs WG) (5: 0)
Wargaming has been attacking us and our company for two years. Until yesterday, we had 7 lawsuits in three jurisdictions: Belarus, Cyprus and the United States. All of them under different sauces boil down to several charges: infringement of intellectual property rights of Wargaming and illegal use of the word "Blitz" in the Blitz Team and Blitz Engine trademarks of our company - allegedly violating the WOTB BLITZ trademark owned by Wargaming.
Yesterday there was a momentous moment for us - there were 5 lawsuits less. First real victory in courts against Wargaming prosecution. All this happened due to the fact that the Supreme Court of Belarus clearly understood the charges on the part of Wargaming and denied them in full in all their claims to the members of our team.
Kirill Polyakov :
- Now Wargaming is distributing intricate press releases in the media and is trying, using the current situation, to cast a shadow on the decision made by the Supreme Court. Wargaming writes that it disagrees with the decision of the Supreme Court, but cannot appeal against it, therefore it will continue to defend its interests in foreign courts of Cyprus and the United States.
But if we talk about the facts, then they are the following. The case went on for a year and has 55 volumes. Court hearings sometimes lasted eight hours a day. The day before the decision was made, the Cypriots offered us peace. The conditions were very simple: WG waives all its claims against all defendants, and in return we simply undertake not to tell anyone about this and keep everything that was in court secret. That's all - just keep it a secret that Wargaming surrendered under the pressure of evidence in the case (even a witness brought against the position of the Cypriot company appeared in court). Our guys, whom WG spent a year dragging around the courts, asked the question: is that all? Is it that simple? Let's erase a year of wild stress from our life and forget that WG publicly shaped our image in the press as unscrupulous people and plunders of its intellectual property? Let's forgetHow investors shied away from us, how did my wife ask me if they would take the apartment? So? Let's just forget everything, go to the press and say - we made a peace deal with Wargaming - and let people figure out what's under the hood of the world: maybe we admitted our guilt, maybe Wargaming paid compensation. And will we quietly live with this secret, catching sidelong glances on ourselves? That's how WG wanted it. But we said no - we waited for justice for a year, we will wait another day. Let the Court decide. Let the Court and its results be public, and all the circumstances of this case - transparent. For people to see everything. We are not ashamed to reveal the truth and do not need to hide behind the confidentiality of agreements.Let's go to the press and say - we made a deal with Wargaming - and let people figure out what is under the hood of the world: maybe we admitted our guilt, maybe Wargaming paid compensation. And will we quietly live with this secret, catching sidelong glances on ourselves? That's how WG wanted it. But we said no - we waited for justice for a year, we will wait another day. Let the Court decide. Let the Court and its results be public, and all the circumstances of this case - transparent. For people to see everything. We are not ashamed to reveal the truth and do not need to hide behind the confidentiality of agreements.Let's go to the press and say - we made a deal with Wargaming - and let people figure out what is under the hood of the world: maybe we admitted our guilt, maybe Wargaming paid compensation. And will we quietly live with this secret, catching sidelong glances on ourselves? That's how WG wanted it. But we said no - we waited for justice for a year, we will wait another day. Let the Court decide. Let the Court and its results be public, and all the circumstances of this case - transparent. For people to see everything. We are not ashamed to reveal the truth and do not need to hide behind the confidentiality of agreements.Let the Court and its results be public, and all the circumstances of this case - transparent. For people to see everything. We are not ashamed to reveal the truth and do not need to hide behind the confidentiality of agreements.Let the Court and its results be public, and all the circumstances of this case - transparent. For people to see everything. We are not ashamed to reveal the truth and do not need to hide behind the confidentiality of agreements.
The Supreme Court ruled on all of WG's demands, including requiring us to remove forks from GitHub. All WG claims are denied. And it's not clear to us what WG doesn't like now. Why does he disseminate information in the media that he does not agree with the decision of the Court? The court made a decision equivalent to what the WG itself proposed to us - refusal of all requirements.
A court in the United States may take another couple of years, a court in Cyprus - no forecasts at all. By the way, the ban on the word "Blitz" in Europe is temporary, and not as trumpets from WG. We understand that our resource forces are not equal. But we will fight. We have now received a good charge of confidence in our strength, a charge of faith in justice and the possibility of achieving victory. And no matter how formidable the enemy is. Wargaming has found where the tank is in reverse gear and will find it next time. Our only weapon is publicity. We will show you guys how this company operates, which believes that it has nurtured us and has the right to behave like the master of our destiny. What happened to us can happen to any team that didn't get along with the bosses at WG and decided to leave to make their own product.
In a Californian court, they have now made claims that our game, which we have been creating for 2 years, allegedly violates their intellectual property.
Wargaming substantiated the borrowings allegedly made from them by the similarity of our game with the test demo project of the DAVA Engine, which is available in open-source at github.com, with the following "signs":
- the game sight is similar in appearance;
- an identical virtual joystick located in the lower left corner;
- desert area with palm trees that even cast a shadow;
- the player-controlled shooter is shown in a third person view with the upper half of the body;
- 3D image of the enemy in the distance.
We have not borrowed or used the source code of Wargaming, and there is nothing that somehow proves something like that. Didn't use the open-source DAVA Engine and the NetworkTestGame project they link to. Despite this, for a month now, our product Battle Prime has been removed from Google Play based on a formal statement from WG.
We have been trying to contact Google representatives for a month to explain our position, but now it is especially difficult and so far to no avail.
Wargaming, if you are sure that you are right, please tell us what exactly we have violated and what specific property of yours do we use?
Victor Kislyi said in his recent interview:“There are also a lot of shooters. For example, can we say that Fortnite stole from PUBG? On the one hand, it seems to be yes, on the other, the games are completely different, and different people play it. Borrowing at the conceptual level is normal, nobody is running after anyone. "
All these words look especially cynical, because they are running after us, because they are trying to destroy us because we supposedly have a similar sight, palm shadows, desert and opponents that are in all modern shooters.
We ask all not indifferent people in our industry, please help us to contact Google or just repost and support. It is very important for us to communicate with the legal team at Google about this whole situation and bring our Battle Prime product back on the shelf.
The beginning of the story:
1.BlitzTeam about $ 1,690,000 personal lawsuits by Cypriot group Wargaming
2. Wargaming brings new charges by adding tech demo of 2017