Square Enix Tokyo office raided by police following lawsuit

Osaka police raided publisher Square Enix’ Shinjuku, Tokyo office yesterday in response to a lawsuit filed by SNK.

SNK alleges that Square Enix makes unauthorized use of SNK characters in the manga High Score Girl over 100 times. Kotaku reports that Square received no requests from SNK to cease publication, but SNK remains adamant it never gave Square Enix permission to make use of its characters—which are from The King of Fighters and Samurai Showdown.

Interestingly, Destructoid noted, characters from Street Fighter 2 appear in the manga as well, though it seems Capcom and Square Enix came to an agreement beforehand. SNK only learned of the presence of their characters when a production company, seeking to make High Score Girl into an anime, contacted the studio.

SNK says it contacted Square in an effort to resolve the infringement outside of court but received no response, hence the lawsuit and subsequent police raid.

Sony Computer Entertainment America is currently chewing through a lawsuit of its own regarding Killzone Shadow Fall's sub-1080p multiplayer visuals.

[Destructoid, Kotaku, image via Shoryuken