Konami and Cygames settle Umamusume: Pretty Derby patent lawsuit

Cygames and Konami Digital Entertainment announced today that they have resolved a patent dispute regarding Cygames' mobile game Umamusume: Pretty Derby.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a very popular anime horse girl management game in which horses are reborn as cute anime girls complete with horse ears and tails. The series launched as an anime in 2018, followed by a mobile game in Japan in 2021. In the game, players can talk, train, and manage horse ladies such as Special Week and Mejiro McQueen, sharing their victories and defeats. As a result, the Umamusume series has inspired a cult following, and Many fans are interested in the real-life Japanese horse racing behind their favorite characters.

As early as March 2023, Konami filed a lawsuit against Cygames, claiming that Cygame's “Umamusume: Pretty Derby” infringed on 18 of its patents. Konami initially sought damages of more than 4 billion yen (approximately $26 million at current exchange rates) and that Cygames cease all production, use and distribution of the mobile game. In response, Cygames requested an invalidation trial for all patents involved.

Cygames revealed Press release Today, it decided to resolve its differences to ensure players can continue to enjoy Umamusume: Pretty Derby in the long term. Despite this decision, Cygames “continues to believe that no patent infringement occurred.”

Both Konami and Cygames expressed their respect for each other's creators and games in press releases about the settlement. Cygames said that their group of companies “respects the efforts of creators at gaming industry companies, including Konami Digital Entertainment, and the numerous games they create.” In turn, Konami commented “We will respect each other's creative work and strive to provide content and services that satisfy our customers.”

according to a Press release Starting in 2023, Cygames has been in discussions with Konami over patent rights “related to certain aspects of Umamusume: Pretty Derby's game systems and programs,” but Konami seems to disagree with Cygames and filed a lawsuit. The two companies have been tight-lipped about what aspects of Umamusume: Pretty Derby caused disagreement. Considering Konami's history of making sports management games like Powerful Pro Baseball, the in-game system for training anime horse girls in Umamusume: Pretty Derby may be part of the problem.

Both companies stressed that details of the settlement will not be made public due to confidentiality agreements.

Verity Townsend is a Japanese freelance writer who worked as an editor, writer, and translator for the gaming news site Automaton West. She also writes about Japanese culture and film for various publications.