Cooking Mama: Cookstar Found to Infringe Office Create’s IP Rights

2022/11/17


Office Create Corp.


Cooking Mama: Cookstar Found to Infringe Office Create’s IP Rights



We would like to thank our fans and customers for their support over the years for the Cooking Mama franchise.

In August 2018, Office Create licensed Planet Entertainment, LLC (Headquarters: Connecticut, USA; "Planet") to develop the Cooking Mama: Cookstar game for Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, the quality of the game builds failed to meet Office Create’s standards that our customers expect and deserve. Planet was contractually obligated to correct identified deficiencies and resubmit the corrected builds for Office Create’s approval.

In March 2020, Planet released "Cooking Mama: Cookstar" for the Nintendo Switch (“Switch”) for sale in North America, Europe and Australia without Office Create’s approval. In response to the unauthorized Switch release, Office Create notified Planet of the immediate termination of Planet’s license to, among other things, use Office Create’s intellectual property pertaining to Cooking Mama. Despite the termination, Planet continued to sell the unauthorized and unlicensed Switch game.

In April 2021, Planet released “Cooking Mama: Cookstar” for the Sony PlayStation 4 (“PS4”) for worldwide sale except Asia. Office Create had not licensed any entity, including Planet, to develop a PS4 Cooking Mama game.

Office Create commenced arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (“ICC”) against Planet and its CEO, Mr. Steve Grossman, to enforce its rights and enjoin further infringement from, inter alia, the manufacture, distribution and sale of the unauthorized “Cooking Mama: Cookstar” video games. By way of a Final Award dated October 3, 2022, the ICC Arbitral Tribunal has found, among other things, that Planet and Mr. Grossman were not authorized to release the Cooking Mama: Cookstar Switch and PS4 games in 2020 and 2021 respectively, that the license agreement had been validly terminated, that the unlicensed “Cooking Mama: Cookstar” products infringe Office Create’s trademarks under 15 U.S.C. § 1114 and common law and registered copyrights under 17 U.S.C. § 501, that they had engaged in unfair competition, that the packaging, labeling and games themselves falsely identify the origin of goods as “Office Create” in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), and that they are financially liable for their conduct.

The Arbitral Tribunal has enjoined Planet and Mr. Grossman from selling, passing off, inducing, or enabling others to sell or pass off any product as a Cooking Mama product and/or otherwise suggesting any association/connection with Office Create or the Cooking Mama franchise. Office Create is undertaking all necessary steps to ensure that the infringing “Cooking Mama: Cookstar” video games (digital and physical copies) are removed from the market.

We thank our customers and loyal Cooking Mama fans for their continued support and sincerely regret any confusion and disappointment that has been caused by Planet’s and Mr. Grossman’s conduct.

April 15, 2020


Office Create Corp.


Re: Unauthorized Release of Cooking Mama: Cookstar by Planet Entertainment LLC


We would like to thank our fans and customers for their support over the years for the Cooking Mama franchise. As many of you know, Planet Entertainment LLC (Headquarters: Connecticut, USA; "Planet") recently released "Cooking Mama: Cookstar" for sale in the U.S., Europe and Australia. This was an unauthorized release in breach of Planet’s contract with Office Create.

In August 2018, Office Create licensed Planet to develop the Cooking Mama: Cookstar game for Nintendo Switch™. Unfortunately, the quality of the game builds failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve. Office Create rejected a wide range of deficiencies affecting the overall feel, quality and content of the game. Yet, despite being contractually obligated to correct the identified deficiencies and resubmit the corrected game for Office Create’s approval, Planet proceeded to release Cooking Mama: Cookstar without addressing all of the rejections and without Office Create’s approval.

We have also learned that Planet and/or its European distributor has been promoting an upcoming European release of a PS4™ version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar. Office Create has not licensed Planet (or any other entity) to create any Cooking Mama games for PS4™. Office Create itself has not been involved in the development of any PS4™ Cooking Mama game.

On March 30, 2020 Office Create notified Planet of its immediate termination of the license due to Planet’s intentional material breach of the license contract. Despite such notice, Planet continues to advertise and sell the unauthorized version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar on its website in willful violation of Office Create’s rights. To date, Planet has not confirmed the status of the unauthorized PS4™ version.

Office Create is evaluating all legal action against Planet to protect our customers, intellectual property rights and the Cooking Mama series. In the meantime, we thank our customers and loyal Cooking Mama fans for their continued support and sincerely regret any confusion and disappointment that has been caused by Planet’s conduct.