Koei Tecmo and Youzu reach settlement on copyright infringement suit

Three months after Koei Tecmo filed a lawsuit against mobile studio Youzu, the two developers have reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed fee.

At the time of the April suit, the Japanese developer claimed Youzu had repeatedly infringed on its copyright. Music and in-game assets from its games had allegedly been used to promote Youzu titles like Dynasty Origins and Sengoku Legend: Uprising.

It was further claimed the Singaporean developer "continuously used" materials without asking permission. Despite a "voluntary promise" to Koei Tecmo to stop what it was doing, Youzu continued using the music and assets.

Koei Tecmo stressed that these actions "damage our intellectual property’s value and lead to misconceptions by users and our partners that we are related to the Defendant App." It further argued that the non-existent relationship could "cause some disadvantages" to its players and partners.

Youzu has since admitted its infringement and formally apologized for its actions. The parties agreed on "decided measures" to prevent future incidents.

It's currently unknown what this means for the offending titles or Youzu itself. In some infringement cases, a developer gets a fee in damages and revenue from the game in question.

Other times, there are harsher consequences. Earlier this year, emulation developer Yuzu settled with Nintendo after releasing pirated copies of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, resulting in its entire operations being shut down.