After multiple rounds of trial, a game copyright and unfair competition dispute case that has attracted widespread attention in the industry has recently been finally judged by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court.
The plaintiff in this case is Hangzhou NetEase Leihuo Technology Co., Ltd., a well-known developer and operator of the game "Leading the Land". Since its launch in 2015, the game has gained a good market reputation and multiple industry awards with its deep strategic gameplay set against the backdrop of the Three Kingdoms history.
The defendant is Beijing Zhanyou Technology Co., Ltd., which is the development and operation entity of the game "Thousand Army Strategy" involved in the case.
NetEase's Lei Huo lawsuit claims that Zhanyou Technology's "Thousand Army Strategy" plagiarizes a large amount of core content such as text, gameplay, and interface from "Leading the Land", which not only infringes on its copyright but also constitutes unfair competition.
The Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court finally determined in the second instance that although "The Thousand Army Plan" did not constitute copyright infringement, its plagiarism behavior in terms of textual description, gameplay mechanism, interface layout, and other aspects of "Leading the Land" violated the principle of good faith and constituted unfair competition. The court ordered Zhanyou Technology to compensate NetEase Thunder Fire for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling 4 million yuan.
During the trial of this case, the court clearly defined the key issue of whether the graphics of war strategy games (SLG) constitute "electronic works" (i.e. "audiovisual works" under current copyright law).
The collegiate bench pointed out that such games mainly rely on static image switching and strategic decision-making, lacking the unique camera scheduling and plot narrative expression in film creation. Therefore, their dynamic images do not have the elements of a "electronic work". This determination has important reference significance for the trial of similar cases.
Case review: Accused of "comprehensive imitation" leading to litigation
Leading the Land "is an SLG game developed and operated by NetEase Thunder Fire, with the Three Kingdoms as its background. Since its launch in 2015, it has accumulated high popularity and won numerous industry awards.
NetEase Thunder Fire claims that the textual content, interface design, gameplay rules, and other elements in its 2017 version of the game collectively constitute a "electronic work", while "Thousand Army Strategy" has a large amount of plagiarism in multiple core elements, which not only infringes on copyright but also constitutes unfair competition. Therefore, the defendant is required to stop infringing, eliminate the impact, and compensate 10.1 million yuan.
Zhanyou Technology argues that the game elements involved belong to general rules and common expressions, and are not original creations of the plaintiff; At the same time, it is emphasized that the game graphics are only mechanical combinations of static content, lacking continuity and plot, and do not meet the originality requirements of "electronic works".
The first instance determination constitutes a category of electronic works
The first instance court, based on the applicable copyright law at that time, determined that the game "Leading the Land" as a whole constituted an electronic work, and the copying behavior of "Thousand Army Strategy" constituted copyright infringement. Therefore, it ruled that Zhanyou Technology should compensate 4 million yuan, but did not support the unfair competition claim.
Both parties have filed appeals. NetEase Thunder Fire claims that the compensation amount is too low and should also be recognized as unfair competition; Zhanyou Technology continues to deny that the game graphics constitute electronic works and believes that copyright infringement is not established.
Second instance revision focuses on competitive behavior
The second instance court, after trial, found that the game in question had non continuous static images and strategic operations as its core, and did not possess the characteristics of camera design and plot arrangement similar to those in film production. Therefore, it did not constitute an electronic work and therefore revoked the first instance's determination of copyright infringement.
However, when the court further examined the competition behavior, it pointed out that there are many similarities or highly similar aspects between "Thousand Army Strategy" and "Leading the Way" in terms of game mechanics, task settings, interface layout, prop descriptions, and even numerical design, which have clearly exceeded the scope of reasonable reference and may lead to substantial substitution of the original game, constituting unfair competition. Therefore, while the final judgment was changed to not constitute copyright infringement, the compensation judgment of 4 million yuan was still upheld on the grounds of unfair competition.
The judgment in this case has dual benchmark significance in both the judiciary and the industry.


Legally, it clarifies that the dynamic graphics of SLG games do not constitute "audiovisual works", clarifying the boundaries of protection for similar cases. In the industry, the judgment warns the market that even if some elements are difficult to obtain copyright protection, if comprehensive imitation constitutes substantial substitution, it will still be regulated by the Anti Unfair Competition Law. This helps to curb plagiarism and promote innovation and differentiated competition in the gaming industry.