The organisers of Fortnite Live, a dumpster fire of a show that drew almost 3000 people to a showground in England then disappointed them, are being sued by Epic for using the game’s name and imagery without permission.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/fortnite-festival-ends-in-predictable-shambles/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/yor1ctolmypy0wy3byox.jpg” title=”Fortnite ‘Festival’ Ends In Predictable Shambles” excerpt=”In the proud tradition of shows like infamous DashCon and Fyre, an under-staffed, under-planned and unlicensed Fortnite party in the UK held over the weekend turned out to be a complete disaster.”]
To recap: the show, which cost parents £12-20 ($18-31) to attend, offered a few lame diversions and a bank of PCs that charged people for a game of the otherwise free-to-play Fortnite.
It was trading entirely on the Fortnite brand, but had absolutely zero permission to use it; a small disclaimer on the foot of the event’s website (which is now down) attempted to state this, but Epic, the creator and owner of the game, are having none of it.
An Epic Game spokesperson tells Kotaku that “The quality of our player experience is incredibly important to us, whether it’s inside the game or at official public events like last year’s Fortnite Pro-Am.”
“Epic Games was not in any way associated with the event that took place in Norwich and we’ve issued a claim against the organisers in the High Court of London.”
The legal action has prompted the company behind the show, Exciting Events, to cease trading. “Epic Games, the owners of Fortnite, have now forced the shut down of the two pre-booked future Fortnite Live events”, owner Shaun Lord wrote to attendees.
“These proceedings by Epic Games has had a catastrophic impact on the company’s ability to trade, which has forced Exciting Events Limited to cease all trading activities immediately and the director of Exciting Events will now seek to limit the losses to third parties as far as possible.”
Comments
10 responses to “Epic Is Suing That Awful Fortnite Festival”
Man, they headed for the hills pretty damn fast.
So if this goes as we’ve seen before, what I’m guessing will happen is this ‘company’ (which I assume has as many employees as a blind butcher’s hand has fingers) ceases trading in anticipation of a well-deserved and truly epic (pun unintended) legal bollocking… probably as a prelude to declaring bankruptcy and setting up a list of creditors who will only get paid with ‘whatever’s left’ after the ‘company’ finishes paying ‘wages/benefits’ to its ’employees’?
I sure hope justice actually gets served, but I have so little faith left in the system.
Don’t lie. That pun was 100% completely intended. 😛
The wierdest thing is how someone thought they could pull this off without being sued by either attendees or Epic Games is beyond me. How this Shaun fellow thought this was his get rich quick idea is beyond stoopidity
I wonder how this will turn out. I’m no lawyer, but apart from the name and use of a few copyright images there doesn’t seem to be too much else that infringes on Epic’s property. Charging people to play Fortnite on computers is no different than an Internet Cafe charging for the use of machines to play games so I don’t think there’s anything they can go for there.
So really all I can see is a copyright infringement on the use of Epic’s art and trademark violation which comes down to European Law and whether the Trademark covers events and festivals.
I suspect that if someone decided to hold, for example, a Michael Jackson festival and used his trademarked image to advertise it, his estate would take legal action to stop it.
The purpose of trademarks is to give consumers confidence in a product, whether it is a physical product or a performance. If someone produces a fake, counterfeit or shoddy product, it damages the reputation of the trademark holder. Therefore the holder will take action to protect it.
Fortnite is free, but it’s not freeware.
The software license and EULA’s only cover personal use. In this case Internet Cafe’s are, on paper at least, required to get a commercial license or agreement for any software they use. The reason you don’t hear of them being pursued by publishers is more to do with the goodwill and value provided by the Internet Cafe.
The one thing to note however is the Fortnite EULA is bound to US/Californian law, and some clauses might not be recognised as legal in European law.
That may well be more than enough. This event, despite the measly disclaimer, attempted to directly associate itself with Epic’s brand. By failing so horribly and being so mismanaged, they have besmirched that brand and cast it in a bad light in the eyes of customers, which is how it will be argued in court. Epic has the legal high ground and every right to pursue compensation for potential damages to the Fortnite brand.
It’s not that different from Nintendo rightfully going after Soulja boy for his shenanigans.
A thief suing a thief!
Exciting Events business plan:
1. Advertise Fortnite Live festival
2. ……..
3. Profit!
4. Insolvency
I think the event being advertised as held in Norwich, UK should have been a big enough warning sign.
Ah, nope. I think you did that to yourself, my Lord.