The Pokemon Company Takes Crypto Company To Court For “PokéWorld” NFT Game

Recently, it appears that the Pokemon Company International has stepped up to take legal action against an Australian crypto company.

According to documents from the Federal Court of Australia, The Pokémon Company International is taking Kotiota Studios (which also attempted to operate under the alias “Pokémon Pty Ltd”) to court after the latter began promoting an unofficial Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Pokémon mobile game named “PokéWorld”. Apparently, PokéWorld would have seen players battling with Pokemon to earn “$POKESHARD” currency in the game, while also earning NFTs in the form of items which can be traded in a marketplace.

Reportedly, Kotiota Studios/Pokémon Pty Ltd was also brazen enough to claim that they were the real company who developed Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Pokémon HOME, and Pokémon Sleep. As you can see below, the shady company also used trademarked Pokemon characters such as Pikachu to advertise the NFT game on their website:

The Pokémon Company International therefore asked the court to seek a resolution to stop Kotiota Studios/Pokémon Pty Ltd from using their official Pokemon IP on the website, releasing the game, and selling any NFTs using the Pokemon brand.

According to the court documents, the first court hearing has since taken place on 21 December 2022 – with representatives for The Pokémon Company attending the proceedings. Apparently, no one from Kotiota Studios/Pokémon Pty Ltd made an appearance.

We’ll report back if this situation develops further in the future. Stay tuned.