Gaming Industry IP News: Tencent’s Light of Motiram goes dark in settlement, the end of a 15-year Nintendo legal battle, Sega sues soundtrack uploader, and more

The holidays may have been a time for many of us to relax, but the legal teams in the gaming industry certainly stayed busy. 

Tencent’s Light of Motiram Goes Dark in Settlement 

We’ve been following the proceedings in the Sony v. Tencent lawsuit since our first issue, but it appears that the dispute has now finally concluded. Video Games Chronicle (VGC) reported that Tencent and Sony have reached a confidential settlement over Tencent’s upcoming Light of Motiram game. The lawsuit over whether Tencent had infringed Sony’s intellectual property relating to the Horizon franchise started in July 2025 and, prior to the settlement, was awaiting a decision on Tencent’s motion to dismiss. While the terms of settlement are unknown, one result was the immediate removal of the to-be-released game from popular online storefronts (e.g., Steam and Epic Games). It is worth noting that the game’s website currently remains online, with a defunct link to the Steam page still present, which suggests that Tencent has not entirely abandoned the new IP, but may need to redesign certain aspects of the game to avoid any further comparisons between the two properties.  

Legal Battle Spanning Four Console Generations Finally Comes to an End 

VGC also reported that a 15-year legal battle between Nintendo and third-party Wii remote manufacturer Nacon (then BigBen Interactive) has mostly finished. The lawsuit, which began back in 2010, was filed in Germany and dealt with patents covering Nintendo’s Wii remote controllers. Nintendo would claim its first victory in 2011 when a German regional court found that the patents had been infringed, but Nacon appealed and delayed a final decision for nearly 14 years. However, this strategy resulted in enhanced damages for Nacon, as interest owed has increased the original €4 million judgment to nearly €7 million (equivalent to $4.7 million and $8.3 million USD). While Nacon can, and has, appealed the damages decision, this marks another win for Nintendo when it comes to enforcing its IP. 

Nintendo Successfully Defends Against Patent Infringement  

In a bit of a switch up relative to the case above, Nintendo was put on the defensive when responding to assertions of patent infringement by Gamevice, Inc., a manufacturer of handheld consoles. Gamevice claimed Nintendo’s Switch game console infringed several of Gamevice’s patents in the same space (filing suits against Nintendo in U.S. District Court and with the International Trade Commission (ITC)). The dispute was eventually appealed up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and a decision on appeal was rendered by that court on January 16, 2026. For details on how the case progressed, and how Nintendo ultimately prevailed on appeal, see our longform analysis on Patent Docs. 

Sega Sues Over Illegal Uploads of Video Game Soundtracks 

Abit.ee reports that Sega has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida over allegedly illicit uploads of video game soundtracks to Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. The alleged infringer, Jamarie Lindsey, known by their online handle Ziodyne (a reference to an ability of the same name in Sega’s Shin Megami Tensei franchise), uploaded various Sega video game soundtracks, including the Persona 3 Reload and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey soundtracks, prior to their official release. While the hosting platforms were quick to remove the releases, Sega seemingly wants to respond strongly in order to deter others who might be looking to take advantage of delays by releasing soundtracks early. Caught up in the lawsuit is the distribution platform DistroKid. DistroKid is used by independent musical artists and helps such artists publish music to streaming platforms and manage royalties. However, in this case, DistroKid may have neglected to verify that the uploader owned the rights to the music they sought to publish. While DistroKid is not a named defendant in the lawsuit, this action by Sega may cause the platform or other similar third-party platforms to consider taking a more active role in verifying ownership rights before uploading content.  

While Lindsey’s uploading of these soundtracks may satiate fans who are eager to have immediate access to full soundtracks, such uploads can easily disrupt well-laid marketing plans for rights holders who are targeting specific release dates. It is possible that Lindsey may have felt empowered to act as a result of the historically passive approach game developers often take with video game soundtrack uploads. For example, it is not uncommon for rights holders to refrain from taking action against parties who have uploaded entire soundtracks to YouTube before an official soundtrack release occurs. While it is possible the rights holders are unaware of this practice, this seems unlikely. A more likely (and profitable) explanation is that companies find it easier to simply use YouTube’s content ID system to seize any revenue from the unlicensed uploads, rather than having the video taken down. This lawsuit may mark a shift in how Sega wishes to approach its soundtrack releases and controlling access to the music. Alternatively, the lawsuit may merely represent Sega taking a one-off action against what it views as an overly egregious act by a specific user. 

DMCA Notice Against Cyberpunk 2077 Mod Raises Questions About Mod Monetization 

A virtual reality (VR) experience modder, known by their online handle LukeRoss, has been subject to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claim by Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red. LukeRoss sells a mod that allows for players who own certain VR systems to play Cyberpunk 2077 using a VR framework. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz (based in part on LukeRoss’s Patreon post), the mod developer and the game developer have been involved in a legal exchange over the mod’s availability. According to CD Projekt’s vice president of business development, the sale of mods violates CD Projekt’s fan content guidelines (though CD Projekt did note that optional donations would be fine). LukeRoss has faced similar issues before, with Take-Two Interactive (owners of rights to Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption) issuing similar DMCA notices. 

LukeRoss, for their part, contests CD Projekt’s characterization of the work. The modder claims that the mods are independent software, compatible with many games other than Cyberpunk 2077, and that there is nothing “derivative” in the product. Specifically, the modder claims that the software was not developed with any code or assets from CD Projekt’s games. The DMCA’s rules surrounding interoperability, at least in the U.S., can be found under 17 U.S.C. § 1201(f), which is a topic we have covered in the past. 

The right of video game copyright holders to regulate modding of their games is relatively untested legally. The closest parallel, at least in the case of LukeRoss’s VR mod, may be emulation, which has been found to be legal in the U.S. under certain circumstances. For example, in Sony v. Connectix, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that reverse engineering a gaming system’s bios was not a violation of copyright, even if the original software had to be copied to facilitate the reverse engineering. However, the Connectix case is more than 20 years old, and more recent cases like Nintendo v. Yuzu suggest certain limits to how an emulator can be developed and distributed. Ultimately, what rights CD Projekt and LukeRoss each have in the mod is potentially debatable. However, fighting such a battle in court would likely be costly and time consuming. 

Further, the debate around paid mods, in particular, has also been around for a long time, with certain developers, such as Rockstar, attempting to create mod marketplaces to facilitate transactions between mod developers and users. As this area of growth is being explored by developers, the desire to ensure that the “official marketplace” is the only place to buy and sell mods will become more important. What has happened with LukeRoss may be an early sign of major developers attempting to insert themselves into the modding ecosystem, and it seems that eventually one or more lawsuits may be needed to answer outstanding questions relating to the scope of control a developer has over a game’s modding scene. 

Patent Pending: Interesting Innovations in Gaming 

Game companies are continuously innovating, so we’ve highlighted a few ways in which they are experimenting with new technology. For example, a few interesting Sony patents have been unveiled in the past few months: 

• VGC has found a newly published Sony patent application (U.S. App. No. 18/779,536) for AI podcasts starring video game characters. The idea appears to be targeted at finding a novel and engaging way of delivering news (e.g., new PlayStation game releases, upcoming events, etc.) by having the news be delivered by popular video game characters. The characters would be customized based on the preferences of the individual user (e.g., based on games the user has played). 

• Techpowerup reports that Sony received a patent (U.S. Pat. No. 12,533,573, Issued January 27, 2026) for “buttonless” controllers that take advantage of touch inputs. The invention appears to be targeted at allowing players to drag and adjust the position of virtual buttons on a touch display, allowing for fully customizable controllers without the need for manufacturing custom faceplates to accommodate preferred button placement. 

• Lastly, allaboutai has identified another application from Sony (U.S. App. No. 18/486,081), which had been relatively unnoticed since April of last year, aimed at assisting players during active gameplay. The patent covers an “AI ghost” that may be able to show players who are stuck at difficult, or perhaps unclear, sections of a game with finding or completing next steps in progression. Such AI ghosts may, for example, demonstrate successful, and potentially adaptive, methods of accomplishing a task. 

We will be keeping an eye out for other gaming patents or applications as they issue or become public.