Krafton, the company behind Player Unknown Battlegrounds, recently launched a lawsuit against Garena, the company behind Free Fire and Free Fire Max. The lawsuit also makes reference to Cupertino-based computer behemoth Apple and Google, the company behind the Android operating system.
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While Krafton has charged Garena with copying the visual style and gameplay of its well-known video game PUBG, it has also charged Apple App Store and Google Play Store with making these games available on their own stores.
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In the case, Krafton claims that Garena plagiarized various elements of PUBG, such as the game’s layout and aesthetic, as well as the patented airdrop feature. When comparing Free Fire and Free Fire Max to Battlegrounds, Krafton notes that “Free Fire and Free Fire Max extensively copy numerous aspects of Battlegrounds, both individually and in combination, including Battlegrounds’ copyrighted unique game-opening “airdrop” feature, the game’s structure and gameplay, the combination and selection of weapons, armour, and unique objects, locations, and the overall choice of color schemes, materials, and textures.”
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Krafton includes Google and Apple in the lawsuit against Garena
Additionally, Krafton has taken Google and Apple to court. Both businesses are using their own app stores to distribute Garena Free Fire and Garena Free Fire Max while also making money from in-game purchases. According to Krafton, while Garena made hundreds of millions of dollars from the sales of the in-game items, Google and Apple “earned a substantial amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire.”
The Verge said that Free Fire made $1.1 billion from in-app purchases in 2021, a 48% increase over what it made in the previous year. However, PUBG Mobile only increased its revenue by 7% from the prior year, to $2.9 billion in 2021.
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Additionally, Krafton has charged YouTube, a platform for sharing material owned by Google, with failing to take down Garena Free Fire videos. The creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) claims that it requested YouTube to delete the uploads that “include elements that blatantly infringe Battlegrounds and, separately, the infringing feature-length film.”
Since Google owns YouTube, both firms profit when users view material on the site; in this situation, viewers view content made by streamers and video producers who use the Garena Free Fire and Garena Free Fire Max.
Google and Apple have not yet replied to the accusations, but Garena’s parent company Sea informed The Verge that Krafton is targeting the firm’s two most popular games, Free Fire and Free Fire Max, because they are “blatant” imitations of Battlegrounds.
Along with in-app purchases, both games are accessible through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Due to the fact that payments were made using Apple’s and Google’s systems, Krafton said that Garena had generated “hundreds of millions of dollars” from the sale of the two games.
See Also : PUBG Developer Krafton Filed Lawsuit Against Free Fire Developer Garena, Apple, Google
The two businesses also “earned a significant amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire,” he added. The 30% commission that Apple and Google both tacked on to each in-app purchase is what Krafton is alluding to.
Battlegrounds’ copyrighted unique “air drop” feature, the game’s structure and gameplay, the combination and selection of weapons, armor, and unique objects, locations, and the overall choice of color schemes, materials, and textures, among other things, are all heavily imitated in Free Fire and Free Fire Max, according to Krafton in the lawsuit. Even examples were provided, such as a visual comparison of the Battlegrounds and Free Fire aesthetics and components.
Krafton sues Garena, Apple, and Google over Free Fire copyright infringement
The creator of PUBG, Krafton, has filed a new lawsuit against Free Fire’s creator, Garena, alleging that the latter is disseminating a knockoff of its battle royale game.
Several aspects of Free Fire and the more current Free Fire Max, including in-game objects, weapons, and the game’s map, are said to violate copyrighted elements of PUBG, according to Krafton, who filed the complaint.
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According to one of the lawsuit’s claims regarding the “substantially similar” in-game layouts, Free Fire has allegedly tried to copy PUBG by adding a river that runs through the area and simulating a coastal community in both games.
According to Krafton, Garena is responsible for violating its copyrighted content starting on April 13, 2019, and the violation was “willful, intentional, and purposeful.”
Being “willful, intentional, and purposeful”
Krafton, who is suing both Apple and Google, claimed in the lawsuit that they “refused to comply” with the request to withdraw Free Fire from their respective marketplaces.
In the first three months of 2021, Garena made $100 million from the sale of in-app purchases and subscriptions, according to the complaint. According to Krafton, these profits were obtained “unlawfully” and as a result of “wrongful sales.”
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Free Fire surpassed PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile as the most downloaded battle royale game in 2021, according to App Annie. However, among mobile battle royale games, PUBG Mobile continued to have the largest user base.
The fact that YouTube hosts Free Fire games on its service and a Chinese movie that is “nothing more than a blatantly infringing live-action dramatization of Battlegrounds” has led Krafton to add YouTube as a second defendant.
The past is repeated
The PUBG creator has previously filed a lawsuit against a different battle royale developer. PUBG Corp sued Netease in 2018 over the release of Knives Out and Rules of Survival, claiming that both games were clones of PUBG and demanding that both games be taken down.
In the months that followed, PUBG Corp. filed a second lawsuit against Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, alleging that their own battle royale presents a conflict of interest because it uses the same Unreal Engine 4 as PUBG.
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Knives Out and Rules of Survival are still accessible and available in app stores. On mobile devices, Fortnite is still accessible, but owing to separate, ongoing legal disputes, it is not now accessible through the App Store or Google Play.
Krafton asked Garena to “revoke its apparent authorisation” to Apple and Google to allow the distribution of Free Fire and Free Fire Max at the end of December 2021, with a suggested deadline of January 5 2022.
Free Fire and Free Fire Max sales on the App Store and Google Play are to be stopped, and the company is to be compensated up to $150,000 for each copyright violated, according to the current case.
See Also : PUBG developer files copyright violation case against Garena Online, Google, Apple
In a recent court case against PUBG Mobile hackers who had disseminated cheats and hacks for the game, Krafton and publisher Tencent won $10 million. The businesses declared that any settlement money from the lawsuit will go into creating anti-cheating software.
