Quoted By:
>1. TPCi brings this action against Defendants to protect its valuable trade secrets. Defendants stole trade secrets from TPCi by taking illicit pictures of pages from an unreleased strategy guide created to accompany the release of two highly anticipated video games, Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. The pictures revealed never-before-seen Pokémon and evolutions of Pokémon that TPCi and its partners intended to keep secret until the games’ release on November 15, 2019. Over the course of 15 hours on November 1 and 2, 2019, Defendants disseminated TPCi’s trade secrets on the Internet, causing TPCi harm.
>3. TPCi owns valuable trade secrets in the images and content of the unreleased strategy guide for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. Before TPCi and its partners release a new game, they keep key components of that game—including certain of the new and returning Pokémon—secret.
>4. There is value in this secrecy. The videogame industry is highly competitive with thousands of new games released annually. To maximize consumer interest and excitement in new Pokémon games, TPCi and its partners carefully time announcements about new Pokémon, features and functionality. When individuals disclose these details without TPCi’s or its partners’ consent (commonly called “leaks” or “spoilers”) they threaten this value and undermine the carefully cultivated excitement and interest TPCi and its partners have worked so hard to generate. It also ruins the surprise for hundreds of thousands of Pokémon fans who are eagerly anticipating the release of the new game.
>23. The Strategy Guide contains components of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield that TPCi worked diligently to keep secret prior to the games’ launch. This includes images and descriptions of Pokémon released for the first time in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. It also includes images of new evolutions for existing Pokémon, that is, forms the Pokémon assume as they gain experience and strength.
