Alibaba Liable To Pay Over $7M Penalty To NetEase Under Gaming Lawsuit

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA unit behind the development of the hit mobile game "Three Kingdoms Tactics" is liable to pay a penalty of 50 million yuan ($7.2 million) to NetEase, Inc NTES for copyright infringement under a court ruling.
Ejoy, the Alibaba subsidiary, proposed to appeal the decision of the Guangzhou court and that the game will continue to operate, Reuters reports.
The court ordered Ejoy to delete 79 items for infringing on the copyrights of Shuai Tu Zhi Bin, another popular strategy game developed by NetEase.
The court rejected NetEase's demand to suspend the operation of "Three Kingdoms Tactics."
China's videogame regulator has started granting publishing licenses to new titles from April 2022, ending a months-long freeze in the leading mobile game market. The country stopped issuing licenses in July 2021 after Beijing tightened rules on the industry.
Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.66% at $82.33 premarket on the last check Wednesday.