Epic Games is no stranger to legal battles, especially as of late. Currently, they're in the midst of a drawn-out fight against Apple, but now they're beginning another court case against another company: Nreal. We've covered Nreal's various products in the past, which range from mixed reality headsets, to smart glasses; the company is one that dabbles in virtual and augmented reality technology, not typically gaming, but that hasn't stopped them from catching Epic Games' attention. Epic posits that Nreal both looks and sounds too similar to their own Unreal Engine, to the point that they're suing Nreal over "willfully trading off Epic’s rights, causing confusion, and acting with callous disregard for Epic’s prior rights", and making a profit by "confusing consumers" with the name.

The lawsuit, which was filed last week, aims to prevent Nreal from obtaining a trademark in the United States. It also appears to be seeking compensation from Nreal for multiple forms of damages and the reimbursement of Epic's legal costs. According to the legal papers, this has been an ongoing issue for years; Nreal attempted to obtain a trademark for its name in 2018, to which Epic Games opposed their application. With the American launch of Nreal's products quickly approaching according to a recent teaser made on the company's Twitter, and reportedly no attempt from them to discuss the problem outside of court, Epic has decided to move forward with the lawsuit.

Source

 

[MaxiBash]

I couldn't help it
View attachment 263314

I hate you for doing this to my masterpiece- I mean, when the promotion is sus!

 

[eyeliner]

The thing is, if Epic chose not to sue, a claim could be made they weren't protecting their "Unreal" trademark, and they could lose it altogether. Unreal is a common word and pretty hard to justify owning a trademark on it, so they have to defend it all the more aggressively. They have to sue other companies in the same line of business whose trademarks sound anywhere close to "unreal", and even outside it. Remember when Apple sued all those grocery stores? Yeah. It wasn't because organic apples were a competition to their phones.

Trademark law states that a trademark can't be granted if it "so resembles another registered trademark, or a mark or trade name previously used by another and not abandoned, as to be likely to cause confusion when applied to the applicant's goods or services" and Epic (yet another dubious trademark) not countering the trademark application could be argued to be a case of abandoning their own trademark. Unreal/Nreal sound similar enough to where they have to do this.

This is all standard legal procedure.

I won't pretend to know the legal workings between companies (I trust you made a good summary), but the gist of it is: Companies have to sue similar-ish named brands? That's is quite amusing, actually. For a company to not loose the right to the name, it has to tell others, via legal system that they exist?

 

[smf]

Does the logo look the Unreal Engine logo? Where's the confusion?

When you're talking about it.

If I started a mobile company called Upple and produced an ayphone then I would expect to get sued.

 

[1B51004]

jeez this two front war is worse than what germany had to go through in WW1

 

[smf]

jeez this two front war is worse than what germany had to go through in WW1

That is untrue and not funny

 

[CloudStrife190100]

How pathetic

 

[TehCupcakes]

If there were selling similar products (e.g. games and game engines) then I think it would be fair. But the fact that they aren't even really competitors just makes Epic look petty and arrogant. Sure, it's possible Nreal could obtain some traffic because of naming similarities. But damages to Epic? Please. Stop being so egocentric; it's not impacting you at all.

 

[sloppycrap]

What a joke.

^This. Epic is suing Nreal because Nreal is using "Nreal" on their 3D glasses. Epic says they think Nreal using "Nreal" on their glasses will confuse people that Epic has something to do with those 3D glasses. That's how the game is played in the USA, I guess.

Page 1 through page 12 is Epic sucking its own dick. Page 12-18 is what Epic actually owns. Page 19-26 is what Epic says they have a problem with, and page 27-33 is what they want to happen if they win.

It's interesting stuff, y'all should go read it.

 

[2Hack]

Honestly tho it's one letter off, not a ridiculous lawsuit

Imagine if there was Intendo or Laystation

(Why do those sound oddly suggestive...)

brb opening a spa called laystation

 

[Xzi]

Another Epic fail.

 

[Lodad]

Imagine if there was Intendo or Laystation

(Why do those sound oddly suggestive...)

Okay I'm imagining it, now what?

 

[xdarkx]

When you're talking about it.

If I started a mobile company called Upple and produced an ayphone then I would expect to get sued.

Your example doesn't work in this case since Unreal Engine is a game engine, whereas, Nreal is a company's name.

On topic: I also find this lawsuit to be ridiculous. But then again, it's an American company filing a lawsuit, so I'm not too surprised...

 

[Benja81]

Was originally thinking about how ridiculous Epic is being. After reading some of the posts, it seems they really have no choice, due to the precedent of needing to "protect" their trademark (or risk losing it).

So lets be fair, it seems the ridiculousness here is the legal system for somehow enforcing/creating this precedent, which obviously creates more cases and benefits their profits. As well as "Nreal" for choosing such a similar name for a gaming related company, with this precedent being apparently pretty well known.

 

[ZeroFX]

Nreal should sue Nvidia then, oh cmon ffs, epic games cant stop being a piece of trash, a trash on games, a trash as store, a trash as a company, completely trash!

 

[Xzi]

Nreal should sue Nvidia then, oh cmon ffs, epic games cant stop being a piece of trash, a trash on games, a trash as store, a trash as a company, completely trash!

This just in: Epic sues local dumpster fire for too closely resembling EGS.

 

[Quarions]

Remember kids. Epic cares about healthy competition. Unless it's against them.

This is absolutely petty. Nreal... Unreal... Fuck off Sweeney.

cringe

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

This just in: Epic sues local dumpster fire for too closely resembling EGS.

Epic sues your fat mom because she ate all the vbucks

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

@Xzi's whole personnality is hating on Epic i swear, dude has no life

 

[Xzi]

@Xzi's whole personnality is hating on Epic i swear

Not true. I also hate Tencent, ActiBlizzard, Riot, Stadia, non-Respawn EA games, and most stuff from Ubisoft.

OTOH I love Supergiant, Atlus, Platinum, Obsidian, Larian, a lot of stuff from Capcom, FromSoft, older Bioware games, Valve, Devolver Digital, and the list goes on.

 

[XDel]

Maybe if they knew how to run an ethical business, they would not have to sue to keep them selves afloat?

 

[Quarions]

Not true. I also hate Tencent, ActiBlizzard, Riot, Stadia, non-Respawn EA games, and most stuff from Ubisoft.

OTOH I love Supergiant, Atlus, Platinum, Obsidian, Larian, a lot of stuff from Capcom, FromSoft, older Bioware games, Valve, Devolver Digital, and the list goes on.

Wow! You must be a hardcore looser!

 

[Xzi]

Maybe if they knew how to run an ethical business, they would not have to sue to keep them selves afloat?

It's also to distract from the other lawsuit they're losing right now.

Wow! You must be a hardcore looser!

Because I have likes and dislikes? You'd probably have some too if you played anything other than Fortnite. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯