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PUBG Corp. Takes Epic To Court Over Battlegrounds Similarities
PUBG Corp., the company that develops and manages PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, is taking Epic Games to court over the similarities between Battlegrounds and Fortnite.
Bluehole and PUBG Corp. have been threatening this for some time, going back as far as last year when the Korean-based developer said they were mulling their options over how they would respond to Epic's addition of a battle royale mode to Fortnite. The copyright infringement suit filed now reveals that PUBG Corp. had in fact filed an injunction against Epic in January.
The movement now is likely because Epic is expanding Fortnite's Battle Royale mode into East Asia, with publisher Neowiz, developers and publishers of MMORPG Bless Online, partnering to bring it to net cafe-style businesses in South Korea. The suit was filed in Seoul Central District Court against Epic Games Korea specifically.
By filing suit, PUBG Corp. hopes to get a court to determine whether Fortnite's Battle Royale mode infringes on Battlegrounds, particularly over things like items and user interface.
[Source: Korea Times]
Our Take
Not being a lawyer, it is hard to say how good PUBG Corporation's argument is here. It does seem like they know this would be a massive waste of time if they didn't feel they could prove at least some aspects of it. I also can't imagine this has caught Epic by surprise and I'm sure lawyers have been preparing for this since the initial saber-rattling in September.
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