The developers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PC, Xbox One, iOS, Android) are not pleased with alleged clones of their successful game and are suing the developers of the Battle Royale games. The latter label these accusations as shameless and demand the cessation of the proceedings!
The history of the Clone Wars: In the case of PUBG, the “Clone Wars” are not about Star Wars, but rather a rather curious legal dispute. Because PUBG Corp., the creators of PUBG, have sued the Chinese company NetEase. The Chinese are allegedly violating PUBG Corp.’s copyrights with their two mobile games “Rule of Survival” and “Knives Out”.
The Empire Strikes Back: NetEase, on the other hand, has its own problems with clones, as other companies have allegedly copied their games and they have also filed lawsuits. However, in China, they currently want nothing to do with the original copyright accusation from PUBG Corp.
What a shameless lawsuit!
How can they! With a motion to dismiss, NetEase wishes to resolve the matter with PUBG and make the lawsuit from Korea disappear. In their motion, they state among other things that the whole lawsuit is a shameless action by PUBG Corp.
One cannot simply claim copyright over such general elements as vehicles, a health bar, or a game lobby. Moreover, many of the items in the game are based on real objects, and PUBG has no copyright on those either.
Since no further evidence from this case could support PUBG Corp.’s claims, it is now obvious that the lawsuit cannot stand.
Clone War continues
How will the court decide? How the whole issue regarding the plagiarism allegations continues remains to be seen. The clone war remains exciting!
By the way: They have meanwhile withdrawn the most popular lawsuit from PUBG. In South Korea, they had filed a lawsuit against Fortnite. That one is off the table now.
