Japanese social giant DeNA has switched from denying all knowledge of any legal action against it by rival GREE to countersuing the firm, dismissing claims it broke Japanese antitrust laws.

The initial claim between the two firms kicked off in November, when GREE – along with carrier KDDI – announced it was taking legal action against DeNA over claims of unfair practice.

The two parties alleged DeNA had been encouraging studios to drop support for GREE's social platform to work exclusively on its own service – Mobage – instead.

Two on one

The action came after Japan's fair-trade commission issued DeNA a cease-and-desist letter forbidding all such activities in June – an order GREE claims went ignored.

Both GREE and KDDI are currently seeking combined damages of ¥1.05 billion (around $14 million), with GREE - which also owns social platform OpenFeint - looking for ¥900 million ($11.7 million) in all.

"We can't allow DeNA's behaviour," GREE founder and CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka said at the time.

"We needed to take some kind of action to recover damages."

Three months later, and DeNA has filed a countersuit against GREE, asking for compensation for any losses it has incurred from GREE's press release highlighting the lawsuit and a formal apology from Tanaka himself.

Commenators have been quick to highlight the strength of ill-feeling that now exists between the two social mobile giants, with major lawsuits between rivals a rarer beast in Japan than in the US.

[source: Industry Gamers]