PUBG: Battlegrounds
The Korean companionship behindPlayerUnknown ’s Battlegroundsis takingFortnitedeveloper Epic Games to tourist court . The Bluehole subsidiary PUBG filed a suit in January claim that Epic ’s free - to - play struggle royale title is infringing on its right of first publication . While theFortnitedeveloper is based in America , their Seoul - ground Epic Games Korea branch has been named in the enjoining .
Both Bluehole and Epic Games had work together in the past , but that relationship was damaged once the latter launchedFortnite ’s engagement royale mode back in September of last yr . Shortly after the mode launched , Bluehole Vice President Chang Han Kim relinquish a statement saying that the caller was " concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known . " In the month since freeing , Epic Games ' third - person torpedo has surpassedPUBGin both player count and revenue , which has presumedly hurt relationships between the two companies further . to boot , Epic Games has teamed up with Neowiz Games , not Bluehole , to bringFortniteto the Korea market in the 2d quarter of 2018 .
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The Korea Timesreported PUBG filed an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court against Epic Games Korea for alleged right of first publication violation on Friday . Details are presently scarce on thePUBG - Fortnitelawsuit , but past statements from Bluehole allude to the aver copyright violation . " We have also noticed that Epic Games reference PUBG in the promotion of Fortnite to their community and in communications with the military press , " wrote Chang Han Kim back in September of 2017 . " This was never discussed with us and we do n’t feel that it ’s right . "
It ’s quite likely that these promotional tactics are one of the issues that Bluehole has againstFortniteas several other conflict royale game in the vein ofPlayerUnknown ’s Battlegroundhave been released without any legal ramifications . Considering how ownership over a genre is such a mirky theme , and the fact thatPUBG , while innovating and popularizing the struggle royale sub - genre , is not the first game with such a selection mode , it ’s likely that the lawsuit will be settled over the minuscule details . Bluehole has also sound off about user user interface law of similarity and that their weapons were copied .
This lawsuit will likely have some authoritative forking in the play vista beyond Korea . It will be interesting to see how the Korean court of law speciate a secret plan being clearly inspired by another and one that infringes upon copyright . Until then , both game will proceed to bemoney - fashioning machinesfor their various company .
More:Can Call of Duty’s Blackout Battle Royale Finally Take Down Fortnite?
Source : The Korea Times(viaThe Verge )
