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PUBG and Epic Games, Makers of Two of the World's Most Popular Video Games, Set To Battle in Court (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the may-the-best-one-wins dept.

PUBG, an affiliate of South Korean studio Bluehole, is suing the Korean unit of North Carolina-based Epic Games, arguing that its smash hit Fortnite copies many of the characteristics of its own PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The suit, alleging copyright infringement, was filed in South Korea. From a report: PUBG introduced its game last year and it became a huge hit as players embraced the Hunger Games-style concept in which 100 players race to kill each other until there's a sole survivor. But the game's features have been embraced by rivals, prompting earlier legal action. Fortnite has a similar concept of 100 people competing with each other, but differs by letting players build fortifications similar to Minecraft and using more cartoon-like graphics aimed at younger players "This is a measure to protect our copyrights," PUBG said, declining to provide further details. Epic Games didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The two companies have a complicated relationship. Epic Games provides PUBG with its Unreal Engine technology, which was used to create PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The software is instrumental in building games and is the industry-standard for professional games developers. Both companies are also partly owned by Tencent Holdings, China's internet giant.

99 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think you meant to say 'Battle Royale'..

    1. Re: Hunger games? by RobinH · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Isn't Battle Royale from pro wrestling? Maybe I'm showing my age...

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    2. Re: Hunger games? by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Battle Royale is the genre term but it pretty much got its idea from the hunger games

      Because we never had death match modes until Hunger Games....

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re: Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's also pretty clear that The Hunger Games got its idea from Battle Royale

    4. Re: Hunger games? by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Oh you might be right. I didn't even know that book was a thing. My bad

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    5. Re: Hunger games? by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      'We all stand on the shoulders of giants' -Sir Isaac Newton, one of the smartest men to ever live.

      --
      Good-bye
    6. Re: Hunger games? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2

      "There can be only one." Where have I heard that before?

    7. Re: Hunger games? by mckwant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The genre doesn't deserve such a fine provenance, but I think it was from the Japanese film that spawned the competition portion of The Hunger Games.

      https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...

      I enjoyed it. Your tastes may differ greatly, but if you're ok with stylized hyper-violence, I'd recommend it.

      --
      ceci n'est pas un sig.
    8. Re: Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Last Man Standing" has been a multiplayer game mode since the earliest days of multiplayer gaming, but the heavy focus on exploring for gear in a collapsing play area is fairly recent. The earliest battle royale game I played with a collapsing play area was a high-speed arena-style shooter with only one weapon. I don't remember the name of the game, but I guess I played it about 6-7 years ago.

    9. Re: Hunger games? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      Battle Royale is more than just a deathmatch, though.

    10. Re: Hunger games? by TuringTest · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure it was the other way around. The film Battle Royale is from year 2000.

      --
      Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
    11. Re: Hunger games? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Or "The highlander" where their can be only one.

      This Genre has been around forever. In essence when ever someone wants to prove themselves to be the best, this Genre is popular.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    12. Re: Hunger games? by Luthair · · Score: 1

      It didn't actually, the author of the hunger games hadn't heard of it.

    13. Re:Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      For the uninformed. Battle Royale is Japanese Manga/Anime/Movie. That is a basis for both Hunger Games (even if author refusses to admit she ripped it off) and PUBGe (even if they don't want to admit it either).

      The manga features a classroom that gets dumped into an island with the premise of 'Last Man Standing', they each get a random weapon (sounds familiar?), some of them useful, some of them not. There's no shrinking teritory, but there is a time limit and one of the items given out is other player locator which forces people together in the end.

    14. Re: Hunger games? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      In the Bible?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    15. Re: Hunger games? by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      Battle Royale is the genre term but it pretty much got its idea from the hunger games

      If you're talking about the movies, the setup was just a basic 24 man team deathmatch with two man teams. I think we had that back in the Quake 2 (maybe 1, but I can't remember) days. I've never heard PUBG/Fortnite equated with hunger games myself. "battle royale" seems to be the new term for 100 person FFA.

    16. Re: Hunger games? by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      It is also precisely because of alchemy that the modern fields of chemistry and molecular (and below) physics exist. The alchemists were meticulous (if cryptic) about documenting their processes, and the belief that any useful process must be repeatable led directly to our modern concept of the scientific method. That, in turn, led to continually refining the experiments to discern slightly-more-precise results, which eventually showed that the theories of alchemy were altogether incorrect.

      Once alchemy was disproven in intellectual circles, a campaign to discredit it was quickly led by the more science-minded individuals, separating alchemy from the new field of chemistry. That's actually the reason we now laugh at the "LOL LEAD INTO GOLD?" idea, which was essentially all that remained once the chemistry was separated.

      That schism happened in the mid-1700s, a few decades after Newton's death. He only saw the beginning of alchemy's downfall, so I won't speculate on which side of that division he would have fallen.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    17. Re: Hunger games? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Before the formalization of the Scientific Process. The discoveries of the past were used using more of philosophic ways of thinking. Where we just worked purely on correlation to create our ideas on how things work.

      For example Sailors used to eat lemons to fight scurvy. This worked because Scurvy is a Vitamin C deficiency and Lemons have a high Vitamin C.
      Buy why didn't they use more palatable Oranges? They would had work well too. Well the correlation between Scurvy and Salty environments (such as with sea travel) was high. And how eating sour tasting food such as lemons help fight it. They figured that Too much salt cause scurvy and sour food helped fight it. And although the facts are wrong, the solution did help the problem.

      The scientific process would had digged further down onto why it was the case, finding that Salt wasn't a factor but the lack of fruits and vegetables that can last a long journey. And further finding would be that Vitamin C a component in fruits and vegetables is what the body was needing. And taste isn't a direct factor.

      Now for people who were never exposed to that process, making such correlation that is not accurate, isn't related to the Genus of the person. But of the environment of the person.

      While Turning Lead into Gold is nearly impossible without nuclear fission, because they are both pure elements. They found that mixing carbon and iron makes steal. So they figured if they may be able to mix some common elements together you may be able to make a rare element, if you try to combine many of these elements properties together.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    18. Re: Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      sg_oneill Except there's a movie that pre-dates hunger games and is actually called Battle Royale. It's literally the concept which these games are based -- In the movie 100 students are put on an island, given various random weapons and forced to fight each other to the death and the final standing survivor is the winner.

      Battle Royale the book is from 1999 and the movie is from 2003. Hunger Games the novel is from 2008 and the movie is from 2012.

      So it's pretty clear you are just plain wrong. So next time... shut your mouth about things which you know nothing of.

    19. Re:Hunger games? by nitehawk214 · · Score: 4, Funny

      * with cheese

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    20. Re: Hunger games? by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Battle Royale is the genre term but it pretty much got its idea from the hunger games

      Didn't hunger games get its idea from the film battle royale, who's name is a generic term for a large unorganised battle with lots of sides anyway.

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    21. Re: Hunger games? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Very ripe lemons are actually sweet, too (sour and sweet)
      Steel was invented/discovered long long before Alchemy even was a topic.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    22. Re: Hunger games? by RobinH · · Score: 1

      That movie was released in 2000. It seems the term "battles royal" or "battle royale" was first used in this context as early as 1671. 1.a.a fight participated in by more than two combatants; especially : one in which the last fighter in the ring or the last fighter standing is declared the winner.

      Battle Royal in pro wrestling goes back at least to Wrestlemania 2 which took place on April 7th, 1986.

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    23. Re:Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      There is shrinking territory: forbidden zones where if you linger, your collar goes boom...and as time goes on, more are added.

    24. Re: Hunger games? by houghi · · Score: 1

      1671? If only copyright would go back that far. No panick, we are workingon it.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    25. Re: Hunger games? by mckwant · · Score: 1

      Granted, I'm probably giving too much credit, but the movie mirrors the generic game scenario almost exactly.

      I've only played Fortnite, but the only thing the movie lacks is the drop from the helicopter.

      (I think. Been a while.)

      --
      ceci n'est pas un sig.
    26. Re: Hunger games? by sootman · · Score: 1

      Or maybe The Long Walk (1979). Or maybe the idea of "kids in a competition to the death" just isn't that hard to come up with.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    27. Re: Hunger games? by Lord+Lode · · Score: 1

      In 1999 in Unreal Tournament this was called Last Man Standing or LMS

    28. Re: Hunger games? by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      Yes, and the genre got its name from the movie "Battle Royale" which came out sometime around 2000.

    29. Re: Hunger games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      To be fair battle royale dates back to the Romans and the arena.

    30. Re: Hunger games? by Larry+Lightbulb · · Score: 1

      And (possibly) famous for a passive aggressive quote. Robert Hooke, whose work Newton may have relied on and then disputed the value of, was described as short, and it's believed the quote was a dig at him.

    31. Re: Hunger games? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      It came from a movie according to the news reports on this.

    32. Re: Hunger games? by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      it has 2 more letters in the name. so it is literally "more than just deathmatch"

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    33. Re:Hunger games? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Battle Royale is Japanese Manga/Anime/Movie

      Technically it's a novel; the rest followed that. Most people know it through the film.

      That is a basis for both Hunger Games (even if author refusses to admit she ripped it off)

      Those books feel influenced more by John Wyndham and John Christopher than by Battle Royale.

      PUBGe (even if they don't want to admit it either).

      Nonsense. Last man standing games have been an online multiplayer gaming staple since well before Battle Royale was written.

    34. Re: Hunger games? by DedTV · · Score: 1
      It goes way, way before that.

      From the January 12, 1936 issue of The Ogden Standard-Examiner:

      TWELVE nationally known wrestlers provide the entertainment for Ogdenites at the Elks club Tuesday night. Ogden's first wrestling battle royal will be the outstanding feature of the lengthy card.

      There's other articles using the word going back to 1923 on (paywalled) newspapers.com according to Google.

    35. Re: Hunger games? by DedTV · · Score: 1

      Dammit. Meant to say, in pro wrestling it goes back way before WM 2.

  2. Bad plan by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    Unless they think they can patent a genre this'll end badly, especially as they are trying to jump back on the fortnite wagon with stuff like weapon skins, except cs:go was in before both of them with that, will they then have to pay to valve who will have to pay on to rainbow six for the multinational elite law enforcement aspect until it all comes back to doom who quitely pay on to maze war or something?

    Ask silicon knights how suing epic for something stupid goes.

    --
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    1. Re: Bad plan by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      They didn't even invent the genre. Almost every element being sued after was in Ark survival of the fittest, and even that took a lot of elements from the original Minecraft hunger games whatever it's called mod

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    2. Re:Bad plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Silicon Knights... funny story, I worked in the same building as their office. After it was emptied, the building manager let me in to get a new desk as everything left was abandoned to the building. Was such a surreal feeling.

      I found it amazing how they think they can take the unreal engine, basically do a ctrl+h and replace anything that says Epic to Silicon Knights, and then sue Epic saying it's their engine. Mind blowing.

    3. Re:Bad plan by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

      Unless they think they can patent a genre this'll end badly,

      They don’t think they can patent a genre. That’s why this is about copyright infringement. Not that that makes there case any less silly.

    4. Re: Bad plan by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      ARK is not a Battle Royale game. Secondly, the creator of PUGB has other Battle Royale games that predate ARK.

    5. Re: Bad plan by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      It could be more silly or less silly depending on the details. It would be less silly if PUBG is suing over items which are unique for example a helmet that is easily identifiable. It would be more silly if PUBG is suing over items which are not unique like real world guns like a Glock 19.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    6. Re:Bad plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It also sets a bad example for the future. The culture that allows these minor variations between entertainment products might be in danger. Without it, we couldn't have the simultaneous holiday smash hits of Armageddon and Deep Impact, witch were variations of the same movie but for different audiences.

    7. Re:Bad plan by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Or it may be a good example if they lose spectacularly.

    8. Re:Bad plan by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      PUBG are the same idiots that thought they could copyright the concept of using a frying pan as a weapon, or using default graphics assets.

      So, yeah, they are probably that stupid.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    9. Re:Bad plan by sunking2 · · Score: 1

      It's not the genre. But let's be honest. They completely copied the start up scenario swapping a plane for a bus, parachuting in, and the shrinking zone. They used the similarities in the early days entice players over with its familiarity. I'm not saying its a case they should win, that's not my area of expertise, but I can certainly see it being brought up.

    10. Re: Bad plan by Khyber · · Score: 1

      Doom had it well before Unreal tournament.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    11. Re:Bad plan by ProzacPatient · · Score: 1

      The frying pan is also the best weapon in Left 4 Dead 2 just on account of the twang song it makes.

    12. Re: Bad plan by Woldscum · · Score: 1

      PU. Made a BR mod for DayZ in ARMA2 and then ARMA3. H1Z1 devs used to watch Lirik play the ARMA DayZ BR mod on Twitch. As an after though added a BR mode to H1Z1. Which in itself is a copy of the ARMA DayZ mod. H1Z1 only took off because Summit1G played it on twitch "Summit's in the pit" in Alpha and very early Beta. It was a buggy mess. H1Z1 then brought in PU to "fix" H1Z1. The the devs split the game to H1Z1 King of the Kill and the survival game. Finally it went free to play. PU then built his own stand alone game PUBG in Unity.

      The engine took massive mods to make a BR game work in Unity. PU is saying Epic just took all the work on the engine that PU did and stuffed it into a Free to play game and undercut them in the market.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    13. Re: Bad plan by Cederic · · Score: 1

      ..and other non-FPS games before that.

    14. Re:Bad plan by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Parachuting in.. Battlefield Vietnam, if not before
      Random start position.. in an online multiplayer 'last man standing' game in 1992
      Shrinking zone.. added to that game in 1993 or 1994

      These aren't new or unique ideas.

  3. Can you steal something that is already stolen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    PUBG did certainly not come up with that game concept, the DayZ mod did it in ARMA 2 back in 2013.

    They are the ones who should start lawsuits if anyone.

    If PUBG actually wins this case it would be embarassing that we can have such shitty copyright laws IMO.

    1. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No respawn Quake deathmatch for example did it in the mid 90ies

      There are probably earlier examples as well.

    2. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Insightful

      PUBG did certainly not come up with that game concept, the DayZ mod did it in ARMA 2 back in 2013.

      The guy who made the DayZ mod is the creator of PUGB. So, yes, he did come up wih the game concept used in DayZ.

    3. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by dohzer · · Score: 1

      Unless DayZ has changed significantly in the last five years, it's nothing like PUBG. DayZ is a massive map zombie survival game with PvP action. No simultaneous aircraft drop, no contracting circle, no care packages, no hope.

    4. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by usuallylost · · Score: 1

      I have no idea what the real law is but all of these games are almost exactly copying the concept from the movie Battle Royal. If anybody has a copyright claim seems like would be the people who made the movie .

    5. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Based on Survivor Gamez streamer event, based on Hunger Gamez streamer events, based on last man standing game modes and the concepts from Battle Royale and Hunger Games, based on running man.

      Any way, you can't copyright game concepts in the US ... dunno about SK, but if the judges there are crazy enough to allow it they will have barrels of funs in the future.

    6. Re:Can you steal something that is already stolen? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      I have no idea what the real law is but all of these games are almost exactly copying the concept from the movie Battle Royal. If anybody has a copyright claim seems like would be the people who made the movie .

      Or the WWE (formerly known as WWF), from the 1980s. Or tournament melees from the 1400s.

  4. Re: Can you steal something that is already stolen by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

    Even the DayZ mod got its ideas from a popular minecraft mod. And these guys know it

    --
    Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  5. Art immitating life by MCROnline · · Score: 2

    Will the court shrink as time goes on? With the last lawyer standing getting a bonus?

  6. Well. by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd be much more worried about Overwatch vs Team Fortress 2 in that case.

    Pretty much the same game, different graphics.

    1. Re:Well. by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

      Or Heroes of the Storm vs DOTA 2 vs League of Legends. Seriously, it's all the same game. Made all the more confusing by the fact that the original DOTA was Defense of the Ancients - a mod (for lack of a better term) for Warcraft 3 (a Blizzard game). And yet Heroes of the Storm (made by Blizzard/Activision) is actually the most recent of that list of copycats and the least likely to be able to claim copyright infringement in that case.

      Not that it matters. I suspect the ruling will be that general game mechanics are not protected by copyright law. There are far too many existing games with a lot of similarities to each other for this lawsuit to have any sort of historic precedent.

    2. Re:Well. by Frobnicator · · Score: 1

      Not that it matters. I suspect the ruling will be that general game mechanics are not protected by copyright law.

      I'm reading through the complaint right now, it looks like that's the situation. Most are scène à faire look-and-feel elements and gameplay elements, neither are protected. The trade dress claims are based on scène à faire (standard elements for the style of game) elements.

      Reading through it, there are: Look and feel of pre-game lobby, islands with bridges, towns, farms, rural and urban areas, battlefield noises, weapons and armor, these are all scène à faire. Others are non-protectable gameplay elements: airplane jump to choose starting location, shrinking combat zone to force players together as more are eliminated, equipment acquisition over the course of the game, weapons and armor stats, the use of backpacks, consumables, health bars, etc.

      There have been strong suits for this before, like The Sims Online v. The Ville. That one had strong claims where the side-by-side images had RGB-identical colors and pixel-identical placement for user interfaces, and item-for-item duplicates of traits. That was a strong suit when you could see they were side-by side identical. Here the images are like both games have soldiers in combat and both have maps, and both games have buildings. The defense there is easy to claim as scène à faire, just present screen captures from a hundred other fighting games in the same situations. They could probably pull out near-identical images from thousands games that all pre-dated PUBG.

      The frying pan is probably the most iconic in their claims, but even that is easy enough to explain away with an enormous amount of prior art as a comedic weapon: Recent movies like Disney's Tangled, or going back Austin Powers, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and hundreds more. Even Mary Poppins from the 1960's had the cook wield a frying pan when she thought the house was being invaded. Frying pans as weapons have been standard in books for centuries, including the old Sherlock Holmes a century ago. I wouldn't be surprised if some Shakespeare comedies involve a wielded pan.

      PUBG has no case here.

      There may be a little bit of wrangling, but likely the mutual investors of both companies will order them to stop bickering and the case will wither. PUBG's numbers have been dropping, but it isn't due to copyright infringement.

      --
      //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
    3. Re:Well. by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      I suspect the ruling will be that general game mechanics are not protected by copyright law.

      I don't think there's any suspicion at all. Board game mechanics cannot be protected by copyright, so the same standard will be applied to computer games as well.

    4. Re:Well. by AdamStarks · · Score: 1

      This statement is distressingly ignorant about the amount of novel work (technical, design, etc) that has gone into former.

      (source: I've worked professionally in the game industry for ~8 years)

    5. Re:Well. by Undead+Waffle · · Score: 1

      DOTA actually wasn't the first Warcraft 3 custom map in its genre. There were many variants of a game called Aeon of Strife which mostly just used the default abilities. I'm not even sure if these maps were the first.

      Also, there was a lawsuit about Heroes of the Storm because they were originally going to call it DOTA 2 until they found out Valve hired the developer and was working on DOTA 2. This is why with Starcraft 2 they made it explicit that they own the rights to any custom games uploaded.

    6. Re:Well. by AdamStarks · · Score: 1

      So according to you, game programming in general hasn't advanced in the last 50-odd years? I mean, they're almost all still of the form:
      while( user doesn't exit )
          check for user input
          run AI
          move enemies
          resolve collisions
          draw graphics
          play sounds
      end while

      Similarly, I'm sure there are no worthwhile design considerations to consider within the wholly comprehensive pitch of "team-based shooter".

      Well, now that my entire field has been solved by AC, I'll just drive home in my Model T. I mean, cars nowadays are basically the same...

    7. Re:Well. by MrDoh! · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and for everyone of those things they'd list, there'd be h1z1 showing the same screenshot as pubg but earlier. Ok, PU came in as a consultant, but the game was out before he turned up, with all those same things! The second pubg wins this case, everyone's going to jump on them. Can't see this ending well for anyone but the lawyers on an hourly rate.

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
    8. Re:Well. by pots · · Score: 1

      The test for copyright infringement is not how much effort you put into your derivative work.

      I expect Bluehole's suit to fail, just as Valve's suit against Blizzard would fail, but this is not because the one game isn't copying the other. They are clearly copying their predecessors. It's just that game mechanics aren't copyrightable. (Yet... ::sigh::)

    9. Re:Well. by AdamStarks · · Score: 1

      Dude, everything copies everything. "We stand on the shoulders of giants", "Great artists steal", etc. It wasn't that long ago that games like Half Life were called Doom clones, derivative, etc. Now many of those games are held in critical esteem, because the recognition of the novility won out over the originality purists.

      Fortnite copied PUBG which copied Day Z (yes, I know, same guy, but a copy is a copy) which copied from Battle Royale which copied from Lord of the Flies. And yet, if someone says "I love playing Fortnite", and another person responds with "Psha, I already read Lord of the Flies in high school, don't need any more of that", you might rightly roll your eyes.

      Similarly, Overwatch copied from Team Fortress 2 which copied from Team Fortress which copied from Quake which was copied from Doom. Congratulations, people have discovered an artistic lineage.

  7. Hasn't this been around before... by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    1) Yes, growing up we called this a Battle Royal, as mentioned above.

    2) Wasn't there a rather popular Minecraft mod called "Hunger Games"

    ???

    1. Re:Hasn't this been around before... by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Why aren't the Hunger Games people suing PUBG?

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Hasn't this been around before... by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      The minecraft mod predates DayZCherno+, let alone DayZ Battle Royale.

  8. Perhaps... by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    But did it support a 100 or more users?

    You see, it clearly is now a wholly new patentable game because obviously supporting more users makes it TOTALLY different.

    USPO - Oh, wow...you're totally right. Patent granted.

    1. Re:Perhaps... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      No one is being sued over patents. Secondly, what does the USPTO have to do with South Korea? You know, the country the lawsuit is filed in.

    2. Re: Perhaps... by triffid_98 · · Score: 1

      It's no more (or less) absurd than Amazon patenting 1-Click or Apple patenting everything they can think of (that they didn't actually think of, they just copied and painted gloss white)

    3. Re: Perhaps... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      Execpt no patents are involved. This is all about claims of copyright infringement.

    4. Re: Perhaps... by triffid_98 · · Score: 2
      If anything that makes the suit more irrational, not less. Any sensible sensible judge who understands technology would have tossed every one of these lawsuits.

      copyright law protects only the expression of an idea and not the idea itself. In other words, copyright can only prevent the copying of a particular expression of an idea i.e. copying of source code or a portion of it, and not the copying of the idea/functionality

  9. The PUBG crew is on crack. by Qbertino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is so abysmally stupid I can hardly believe it. PUBG is basically a better asset flip. The only thing that it has going is a neat new game mechanic and a reason to multiplay on a larger map. Other than that there is zilch innovation in the game. PUBG is going to lose big time. Indie Game critic Jim Sterling did a perfect analysis of this situation.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:The PUBG crew is on crack. by Luthair · · Score: 1

      I'm sure an indie game critic is an expert at South Korean copyright laws...

    2. Re:The PUBG crew is on crack. by bsolar · · Score: 1

      Maybe he his: that's why you should read his analysis and debate its merits, not whoever wrote it.

  10. This could backfire tremendously by Chameleon+Man · · Score: 1

    PUBG uses the Unreal Engine, which is owned and maintained by Epic. They could revoke their license on the platform and PUBG would be SOL. Perhaps they're looking for a huge payday before shutting the game down because they're not getting any new players.

    1. Re:This could backfire tremendously by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Or re-port it to ARMA's engine?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:This could backfire tremendously by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      IIRC, as part of other lawsuits' settlements, Epic has agreed not to intermingle its game business interests and its engine business interests.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    3. Re:This could backfire tremendously by sunking2 · · Score: 1

      That would likely break laws.

    4. Re:This could backfire tremendously by MrDoh! · · Score: 1

      Or port it to DBG's Forgelight engine, then after a year sue them for h1z1 copying them but going back in time and doing it earlier.

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
    5. Re:This could backfire tremendously by MadKeithV · · Score: 1

      Or port it to DBG's Forgelight engine, then after a year sue them for h1z1 copying them but going back in time and doing it earlier.

      PUBG know very well what a total pile of shite Forgelight is, they wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, even with the massive stupidity of suing Epic.

  11. Re: Can you steal something that is already stolen by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    That Hunger Games Minecraft mod you keep referencing came out like 7 months after DayZ was released.

  12. Re:Is Gameplay Copyrightable by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

    Pun intended?

    Anyways, the rule book is copyrighted, obviously.
    However, I've never seen any issue with replicating functionality. In fact, many popular board games are reskinned copies of traditional games, for example "Uno" is just "Crazy Eights" with redesigned cards. And replicating functionality is more than commonplace in software.

    Maybe gameplay mechanics can be patented in some cases, but IANAL.

  13. Unleash the attorneys! by The+Fat+Bastard · · Score: 1

    Call of Duty 4 is getting a battle royale mode.

  14. Been around since Super Bomberman by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    the heavy focus on exploring for gear in a collapsing play area is fairly recent.

    4-player Super Bomberman and Bomberman 64, published by Hudson Soft, were around in the 1990s. Both had last man standing, exploring for gear (bomb and flame powerups), and a collapsing play area once less than a minute remained in a 2-minute match. But I'll grant that in the timescale of the law in question, which reaches back to 1923, video games themselves are "fairly recent."

  15. Patent Cooperation Treaty by tepples · · Score: 1

    A U.S. patent and a Korean patent can arise from an application pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty of 1970. This establishes, among other things, a filing date and a preliminary search for prior art on which national patent examiners can rely, though each member country has the authority to grant a patent or not.

    1. Re:Patent Cooperation Treaty by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      Sure but the USPTO can't issue patents in South Korea. And again, the lawsuit has nothing to do with patents in the first place.

  16. For too long the world legal systems have failed by ageoffri · · Score: 4, Funny

    The legal systems around the world has failed The People. We as civilized citizens must hold the companies accountable and more importantly the legal staff. The top 50 lawyers from each company shall be placed in an arena with a variety of weapons. If there are not 50 lawyers, then the top executives starting at the CEO shall fill out to meet the 50. The last company representative breathing shall have their companies position upheld.

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    -- Slashdot, making the Left look conservative since 1997.
  17. Not the first time PUBG has sued for copyright by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think it was in April that PUBG sued NetEase for two mobile games for copyright infringement. This copyright lawyer, Leonard French goes over that suit and discusses elements of it. While French talks about general concepts of copyright infringement like "substantially similar" requirements he also talks about specific things like PUBG's claim that NetEase "copied" guns which were real world guns is problematic as you'd expect a Tommy gun to look like all other Tommy guns.

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    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  18. game based off one game mode by sakono · · Score: 4, Insightful

    isn't this whole game basicly just a last man standing game? most of the old FPS's had a game mode called last man standing that does the same thing. you get one life and the last person thats still alive is the winner. PUGB didn't even come up with the winner winner chiken dinner as thats been around for ever.

  19. So you both made "Hunger Games: the video game?" by Samurai+Nigel · · Score: 1

    Or more specifically, "Last Man Standing, but with 100 people." Your game isn't even original to begin with here.

    I hate it when organizations and entities I like do incredibly shitty things. Have fun hanging out with Lars Ulrich, I guess.

  20. Re:Is Gameplay Copyrightable by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

    Maybe gameplay mechanics can be patented in some cases, but IANAL.

    Nope. Patents are only for a "process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter" (35 USC 101).

  21. Re:Hypocrysy by Cederic · · Score: 1

    So did you post twice or are two ACs randomly drawing The Hunger Games into the same conversation (and both doing so from a position of idiocy)?