Chinese Game Company Wins Lawsuit Against Test Player for Infringing Trade Secrets

TapTechNews August 12th news, the People's Court of Pudong New Area, Shanghai recently held a first-instance public hearing and pronounced a case of a game test player Chen who unauthorizedly obtained and disclosed unpublished game characters and other information infringement: The test player Chen of Honkai: Star Rail unauthorizedly obtained and disclosed unpublished game characters, and was determined by the court to obtain and disclose trade secrets by improper means, and was ordered to compensate the game company 500,000 yuan.

At present, the player has publicly issued an apology statement, deleted all infringing content, and promised not to leak, disseminate the game content that Mihoyo has not yet made public, and no longer infringe on Mihoyo's legitimate rights and interests in any form.

TapTechNews learned from the People's Court Daily about the background:

Before the new version of the game went online, Mihoyo recruited multiple players including Chen to participate in the pre-release test of the game, and the participating players signed a confidentiality agreement for the unpublished game content.

From October 2023 to February 2024, Chen went to the game test computer room 8 times to participate in the game test. During the participation in the test, without permission, Chen carried his own electronic equipment to secretly record and photograph the test content, and disclosed the secretly recorded game test content to the third party many times.

On March 22, 2024, Mihoyo Yingtie filed a pre-litigation behavior preservation application on the grounds that the unpublished game character design might be leaked in advance to the Pudong New Area Court. The court made a ruling within 48 hours in accordance with the law, ordering the respondent Chen not to disclose, use, or allow others to use the game content that he had secretly recorded during the participation in the game test.

On April 19, Mihoyo Yingtie filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting that the defendant Chen immediately stop the unfair competition behavior of infringing on its enjoyment of trade secrets, compensate for economic losses of 500,000 yuan, and publish a statement to eliminate the impact.

Mihoyo Yingtie alleged that the game characters, images, skills and game screens disclosed without permission in the case belong to the trade secrets protected by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law; the defendant Chen's act of secretly recording and photographing violated the confidentiality obligation, and his act of obtaining, disclosing and allowing others to use the content in question by theft means constituted an infringement of his company's trade secrets, and Chen should bear the legal responsibilities such as stopping infringement, compensating for losses, and eliminating the impact.

The defendant Chen argued that Mihoyo Haiyuancheng authorized Mihoyo Yingtie to be responsible for the operation of the Honkai: Star Rail game version V1.0, not including the game version in the case, nor including the game characters, skills, screens, etc. in the case, and Mihoyo Yingtie does not have a legitimate right over the content in question. The game character in the case has been made public before his participation in the test, and it does not belong to the scope of trade secret protection.

After the court trial, it was considered that according to the facts in the case and relevant legal provisions, both the plaintiff and the defendant in this case are qualified litigation subjects, and the content claimed by the plaintiff constitutes the trade secret stipulated in the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and the defendant Chen has implemented the behavior of obtaining and disclosing the plaintiff's trade secret by improper means and should bear the corresponding civil liability.

The court ruled that the defendant Chen immediately stop the unfair competition behavior of infringing on the plaintiff's enjoyment of trade secrets as of the effective date of the judgment; compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses incurred to stop the infringement totaling 500,000 yuan; publish a statement to eliminate the impact within 30 days as of the effective date of the judgment, and the duration is not less than 30 days.

After the judgment, the defendant said that he accepted the judgment and would not appeal.