PUBG creator files lawsuit against ‘clone’ battle royale games

PUBG Corp. has filed a lawsuit against developer NetEase for alleged copyright infringements found within two of the Chinese studio’s mobile games, which bear a striking resemblence to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Filed in California on April 2, the full complaint (via PCgamesn) calls for NetEase to cease development and distribution of both titles, stating that ‘PUBG has suffered irreparable harm’ as a result of their release. Chiefly, it argues that Rules of Survival and Knives Out constitute not only copyright infringement, but also trade dress infringement and unfair business competition.

Both games were released in iOS and Android devices before PUBG launched its own mobile app. In addition, Rules of Survival and Knives Out are erroneously labelled PUBG Mobile on social media and the marketplace, with the complaint citing further similarities with the battle royale juggernaut including map layout, match flow, and the appearance of certain buildings. 

If that wasn’t enough, the iconic victory tagline ‘winner, winner, chicken dinner’ appears in-game and on online marketing for both titles, which the complaint says was ‘for the sole purpose of evoking’ the use of the PUBG phrase. 

‘Once it became apparent that NetEase was unwilling to acknowledge PUBG’s intellectual property rights, PUBG determined that legal action would be necessary to enforce its rights,’ said the plaintiff. 

In more recent news, NetEase has now attempted to clamp down on its own set of copycat offenders, with a statement issued today stating it will begin suing developers who have plucked ‘creative features’ from both Rules of Survival and Knives Out. The company doesn’t mention PUBG at all, although it does claim that its titles have been downloaded by millions of users and include unique concepts and features. 

The developer has now moved to utilise legal resources to safe keep the rights of its IP from ‘copycat’ studios, after discovering that some companies were freely pinching their ‘original ideas’ for use in other games.