PUBG Corp. v. Epic Games, Inc. - Legal battle royale

  • Registration closed, comedy forum, Internet drama, Sneed, etc.
Diabeetus

Diabeetus

The hyeckin frickyen sweetist
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Two of the biggest games in their "genre", PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite, have passionate fanbases. There's been tension between those two groups. The latter thinks the former has "burned out" in popularity, while the former thinks they're the better game overall and that the latter ripped them off.

Only one of those accusations can be taken as legally viable. PUBG Corporation (the creators of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds), just today, have realized that.

PUBG Corporation is suing Epic Games for (no joke) copyright infringement.

Read more below:

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=249598
Korean game developer PUBG, a subsidiary of Bluehole, has filed a copyright violation lawsuit against U.S.-based Epic Games, asking a court to determine whether the latter's Fortnite was copied from the former's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

A PUBG official said Friday that the firm filed an injunction, alleging copyright infringement, with the Seoul Central District Court against Epic Games Korea.

"We filed the suit to protect our copyright in January," said the official.

Released in July last year, Fortnite, a first-person shooter (FPS) game, has recently become popular around the world, threatening the popularity of Battlegrounds that was a great hit in the global game market last year.

When Fortnite was first launched, the game only had the "Save the World" mode, at which gamers build walls and defended it. But in September, the firm added the free-to-play "Battle Royale" portion into the game, provoking a plagiarism controversy and allegations that it copied "Battlegrounds" items and user interface (UI).

When the controversy flared in September, Bluehole said in a statement that the firm was mulling ways on how to respond to the claims that core elements and UI of the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite seemed to be similar to those of Battlegrounds.

The Korean firm added that it was regrettable that Epic Games, which was a partner of Bluehole, had released a similar game.

Battlegrounds, a survivor shooter game reminiscent of the Japanese film "Battle Royale," was released in March last year to early access on Steam, the world's largest online game store platform.

Since its release, more than 40 million copies of the video game have been sold on Steam as of April. Over 4 million copies of the game's console version, which was released last December, have also been sold.

The Korean game has received various awards in and outside the country, and its mobile version, released on May 16, continues the popularity.

Epic Games has also enjoyed rising popularity of Fortnite, which has attracted over 40 million users around the globe.

Epic Games is currently preparing to make a foray into the Korean market in cooperation with Neowiz Games as the two firms signed an agreement in January to release Fortnite in so-called PC rooms here within the second quarter.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, this is shaping up to potentially be the Lolsuit of video games. If anyone can scout for some legal documents, that'd be amazing.
 
A

Arkangel

Computer Science and Computer Violence
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Is it even possible to copyright a game genre? Imagine if the developers of pubg won and set a precedent for other game developers suing each other for making competing platformers and shooters.
 
Nova Prime

Nova Prime

Narrow Minded writing, Overextended thinking
kiwifarms.net
Joined
May 8, 2018
PUBG can't build a decent argument for this case because they lack that particular game mechanic.
 
RJ MacReady

RJ MacReady

cheating bitch
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Sep 17, 2015
I find it hard to believe that Epic didn't use their inside knowledge of PUBG's code to accelerate development of Fortnite BR. PUBG runs on UE4 and Epic provided backend support for them, as engine developers typically do for major users. Bluehole probably settled for attacking Epic on the basis of superficial elements like Fortnite's UI because they knew proving code plagiarism would - comparatively speaking - be an even harder battle. Either strategy is probably a complete Hail Mary, but I'm not surprised that Bluehole felt aggrieved enough to try their hand anyway given the context.
 
Ponderous Pillock

Ponderous Pillock

Welcome to Triple T, Tards, Troons and Trolls!
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Mar 7, 2016
Gosh, if only there was some sort of origin point for all these genres so they'd not have a leg to stand on when it comes to copyright.

Battle_Royale_Japanese.JPG


Can't put my finger on it though.


Did you know these dumb fucks have also copyrighted pans as weapons in video games?
 
Nobunaga

Nobunaga

Reject whores, embrace sword
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
May 1, 2018
D
Ponderous Pillock said:
Gosh, if only there was some sort of origin point for all these genres so they'd not have a leg to stand on when it comes to copyright.

Battle_Royale_Japanese.JPG


Can't put my finger on it though.


Did you know these dumb fucks have also copyrighted pans as weapons in video games?
Click to expand...
Didnt super mario rpg start using pans as a weapon?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.