In September of 2017, Playerunknown Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corp, a subsidiary of Korean game company Bluehole, claimed that they were considering taking Fortnite dev Epic Games to court. PUBG Corp claims that Fortnite's Battle Royale mode copied too much from PUBG's own mode, ranging from the gameplay to the UI. They also state that PUBG Corp had been talking to Epic Games throughout PUBG's development, as it uses Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, and that the company had taken their idea, and added it onto their already existing Fortnite game. Recently, a copyright claim was supposedly filed in Korea by Bluehole, and will go to the courts in Seoul.

This isn't the first time we've seen Bluehole go to court, either. In the Northern California district courts, PUBG Corp took NetEase to court over copyright concerns with a 155-page document describing how NetEase's mobile titles Rules of Survival and Knives Out battle royale games stole the concept from Playerunknown Battlegrounds. Bluehole also tried to claim they had the sole ability to use frying pans as weapons in video games. Fortnite is set to officially become available in Korea soon (published by NeoWiz) but this lawsuit might delay things.

The last time Epic Games was sued, it was by Silicon Knights, for the game Too Human; as Epic allegedly breaching their contract. The suit was dismissed, and Epic counter-sued Silicon Knights, forcing the company to permanently recall their game from sale and pay 4.45 million to Epic Games.

Source

 

[Kioku]

The whole pubg vs fortnite thing kind of has that halo vs cod vibe from last generation.Fortnite has that cancerous community like cod has too.

Why are shooters the most cancerous games on earth?

You ever seen the LOL community?... Or SMITE? It's definitely not shooters only. Don't be THAT guy.

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

You should probably ask that a lawyer if you’re interested in specifics. My opinion is if someone blatantly copies someone else, then he should be appropriately punished.

So, H1Z1 devs should take Bluehole to court then. Gotcha.

 

[gamemasteru03]

This is just crazy. I some what agree with them suing mobile rip offs which are very identical to pubg but fortnite is very different compared to pubg in every aspect. Fortnite is much more fast paced and has things like building mechanics along with a simplified weapon system compared to pubg which has a complex weapon system with slow paced action. This is like if Nintendo sued everybody who made platformer games like Mario or if Microsoft sued everybody who made a shooter like Halo. Also suing the person who makes your game engine is a very very stupid move because Epic could just take away their unreal license causing them to rather never update Pubg or have to port the game to another engine which will take a lot of work.

 

[Dmafra]

Now they will take to court all the games that use the battle royale system !
Blackout is the next!

 

[TheTechGenius]

It will never happen, PUBG will never win this battle. They know they cannot sue Epic Games over a "Game Mode", because a game mode cannot be copyrighted, so they try to sue them over the smallest things because they are butthurt that Fortnite is doing so much better then PUBG. Epic Games created a Battle Royal game better then PUBG, and they are pissed and bitter.

And this is coming from someone that hates the Battle Royal genre all together.

But I can see why Fortnite is doing much much better then PUBG. As soon as microsoft started backing PUBG, the PUBG dev got an ego and thought he was a big man, then he started slacking on his game, the game ran like trash on PC and console. I don't know how it runs now, but they didn't fix the issues for a long time. Thats when Fortnite came in and gave players a way better gaming experience. Not to mention PUBG costs $30 and its even labeled "Pre-Alpha" or "Unfinished".

Yeah, Fortnight is "Pre-Alpha" too, but its free to play, big difference. And for a Pre-Alpha free to play game, it runs pretty damn good, at least on PS4 it does anyway.

The PUBG dev thought he was living the life, and so he really slacked off with trying to make his game better and perform better. Thats what he gets for letting his ego get the best of him.

Ohhhh, Fortnite copied a damn Frying Pan from PUBG?? Booo Hooo, its a damn frying pan, how many different ways can you create a simple frying pan anyway?? A frying pan is only suppose to look one way. LOL.

Besides, its already known that PUBG got most of their assets and models from the Unity Store, so if someone else buys those assets from the Unity store and uses them in their game, thats not copyright infringement, the person bought them legally.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

You should probably ask that a lawyer if you’re interested in specifics. My opinion is if someone blatantly copies someone else, then he should be appropriately punished.

But the courts have already tried cases like this, and have so far always ruled that game mechanics cannot be patented, trademarked, copyrighted, or owned in any way. I'm simply stating the ruling precedent in these cases.

 

[Kioku]

No you're not sure its covered by the contract, you're guessing. You have no idea what is in that contract, no one here does. You don't like what they're doing and just assuming they're in the wrong. Taking a big company like Epic to court isn't cheap, they're unlikely to have done so if they didn't believe they had some legal standing.

The company that wanted to take legal action over a frying pan used in games won't go to court for no real reason? Gotcha..

 

[whateverg1012]

When someone makes a better game than you, sue them for it. - PUBG Devs

 

[the_randomizer]

Lol, what a bunch of lawsuit-happy pantywaists.

 

[Beerus]

loool i wonder whos gonna win i think fortnite since the game play is not the same since is minecraft and stuff but this will be entertaining

 

[spectral]

The company that wanted to take legal action over a frying pan used in games won't go to court for no real reason? Gotcha..

Well clickbait articles aside, there was more to that lawsuit than just the frying pan, whether they ended up being valid or not. But yeah, details don't seem to matter. Let's just rage against the company we happen to not like. Whether they're in the right or not.

 

[WiiUBricker]

But the courts have already tried cases like this, and have so far always ruled that game mechanics cannot be patented, trademarked, copyrighted, or owned in any way. I'm simply stating the ruling precedent in these cases.

I don’t really care what courts think. I’m sticking to my opinion. You copy someone else, you have to expect consequences.

 

[TheTechGenius]

If Game Modes could be copyrighted, we would of never of had any of the top first person shooters out there.

What was the first 1st Person Shooter, was it Doom or Half-Life/Counter Strike?

If 1st Person Shooters could be copyrighted, we wouldn't have COD or Battlefield, or Arma, etc... lol

 

[Viri]

Bluehole also tried to claim they had the sole ability to use frying pans as weapons in video games

I hope Rare sues them, they stole the frying pan idea from Conker!

 

[Deleted User]

You should probably ask that a lawyer if you’re interested in specifics. My opinion is if someone blatantly copies someone else, then he should be appropriately punished.

Opinion has no place before a court and judge. If this whole world was run off of abstract opinions, then we'd be in even deeper trouble than we already are.

Besides, Halo's right in the legal sense. Ever heard of a game called Fighters' History? Capcom tried to take the developer, Data East, to court for it being too similar to Street Fighter II. Capcom lost, as it was deemed that no direct measure of copying was found between the two games, despite them having a similar style, similar characters, and even similar pacing.

Despite how similar these two games are, I get the feeling the court's going to rule a lot of these ideas and mechanics as public domain, anyways.

 

[Shubshub]

I don’t really care what courts think. I’m sticking to my opinion. You copy someone else, you have to expect consequences.

And the courts dont care what you think, Court is law while your opinions are not.

 

[DeslotlCL]

I don’t really care what courts think. I’m sticking to my opinion. You copy someone else, you have to expect consequences.

You still cant explain how fortnite plays exactly like pugb...

 

[Ryab]

View attachment 126175​

In September of 2017, Playerunknown Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corp, a subsidiary of Korean game company Bluehole, claimed that they were considering taking Fortnite dev Epic Games to court. PUBG Corp claims that Fortnite's Battle Royale mode copied too much from PUBG's own mode, ranging from the gameplay to the UI. They also state that PUBG Corp had been talking to Epic Games throughout PUBG's development, as it uses Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, and that the company had taken their idea, and added it onto their already existing Fortnite game. Recently, a copyright claim was supposedly filed in Korea by Bluehole, and will go to the courts in Seoul.

This isn't the first time we've seen Bluehole go to court, either. In the Northern California district courts, PUBG Corp took NetEase to court over copyright concerns with a 155-page document describing how NetEase's mobile titles Rules of Survival and Knives Out battle royale games stole the concept from Playerunknown Battlegrounds. Bluehole also tried to claim they had the sole ability to use frying pans as weapons in video games. Fortnite is set to officially become available in Korea soon (published by NeoWiz) but this lawsuit might delay things.

The last time Epic Games was sued, it was by Silicon Knights, for the game Too Human; as Epic allegedly breaching their contract. The suit was dismissed, and Epic counter-sued Silicon Knights, forcing the company to permanently recall their game from sale and pay 4.45 million to Epic Games.

Source

I dont play either but I just dont understand this battle royale is more of a genre.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

I don’t really care what courts think. I’m sticking to my opinion. You copy someone else, you have to expect consequences.

But can you really "copy" abstract concepts like game mechanics? Because football involves kicking a ball, can no other game have players kick a ball? Because Dungeons & Dragons had players collect experience and level up, can no other game have an experience and leveling system? Can there only be one first person shooter? One racing game? One RTS? PUBG is not the first battle royale game and Fortnite includes building mechanics and completely different kinds of items, so can it really be said to be a copy of PUBG?

 

[B00TMEOFFLINE]

PUBG may have came first but epic OWNS the unreal engine that they are using, so epic can just turn around and copyright sue them back lol. Blue hole doesn't hold the copyright to battle royale so their case may get laughed out of the court room.

 

[Kioku]

PUBG may have came first but epic OWNS the unreal engine they are using so epic can just turn around and copyright sue them back lol.

Negative ghost rider. Not how it works..