'Pokémon GO' Asia Release Date Delayed By Lawsuits, Safety Concerns?
Jazz RosinWith the game recently launched in Hong Kong, most countries in Asia are still waiting for "Pokémon GO" to reach their shores.
Here are some "Pokémon GO" related news from Asian countries, Taiwan and Thailand.
"Pokémon GO" Sparks Safety Concerns in Thailand
Thailand's national telecom regulator, The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, is preparing measures to cope with possible "Pokémon GO" incidents once the game goes live in the country.
According to Bangkok Post, these concerns stemmed from problems seen in countries where the app is already available.
"We will call a meeting with major mobile operators to seek ways to prevent those incidents from happening here, especially public safety risks," said secretary-general Takorn Tantasith.
"People should be aware of the risks and not go solo on their hunt for monsters in unfamiliar places at odd hours," he added. "Underage players should have their parents closely monitoring them, bearing in mind that their own safety is more important than catching monsters."
The official clarified, however, that the regulators have no intentions to intervene with Niantic Labs. The measures that will be undertaken will be for the safety of the consumers.
Thailand had as many as 40 million people connecting to the internet using their smartphones in 2015.
Taiwanese Lawyer Launches Patent Lawsuit Against Niantic
Former video game developer turned patent attorney Wang Hsin is suing Niantic Labs for allegedly using his patent in their games, particularly their first game, "Ingress."
According to a report from The China Post, Wang, who has won cases for HTC against Apple as HTC's senior manager of legal affairs, IP strategy and licensing, claims that "Ingress" and his patent rights contained similar features.
Wang has already gotten in touch with Niantic early this year proposing a NT$100 million patent settlement, which the company rejected in May.
Wang's patent, "Online Game in Real World," was filed and approved in December 2007.
General Manager of Transpacific IP's Taiwan division, Joseph Chang, said that while the settlement figure is "a bit too aggressive for a free online game," Wang's decision to sue the company is the correct thing to do.
Predicting a 50-50 win for Wang, Chang still believes that the game will still be released in Taiwan regardless of the result of the lawsuit.
Stay tuned for more "Pokémon GO" news here.
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