Australian Federal Court Bars Developer Kotiota from Releasing Unsanctioned Pokémon-Branded NFTs

The Pokémon Company International (TPCI) won orders in the federal court on Wednesday preventing Parramatta-based developers Kotiota from using the popular video game, film and television characters in their software, releasing Pokémon-branded NFT, or representing that the company has a relationship with The Pokémon Company International.

TPCI was alerted that Kotiota was presenting itself as a developer of Pokémon games in August this year. Kotiota has represented on its website that it was working on a number of Pokémon games, including the game’s latest releases, Pokémon Violet and Pokémon Scarlet, which TPCI has said Kotiota did not work on.

TPCI became aware in November of a website called PokeWorld that was registered by Xiaoyan Liu, who heads up Kotiota. The site announced plans to launch a crypto-based game and NFTs in January next year.