Fortnite creator Epic Games is trying to shut down Fortnite counterfeiters by suing them, but it’ll be an uphill battle.
We’re not sure if you noticed, but Fortnite is a pretty popular game. With over 10 million players, Fortnite is popular enough to have entered pop culture. You can get Fortnite merch basically everywhere, from Target to Walmart, and all of it officially licensed by Epic Games.
Well, some of it. A lot of Fortnite merch is bootlegged by counterfeiters looking to cash in on Fortnite’s name without paying Epic its due. And Epic isn’t happy about it.
Last, but not least, Epic wants a cool $2 million for “for each and every use of the Fortnite trademark.”
However, while it’s easy to shut down a website that’s performing illegal deeds, finding the perpetrators is not a simple matter. The suit notes that counterfeiters usually use fake names and addresses when registering sites and companies, so tracking them down is difficult if not impossible. And once a website gets shut down, a new one pops up with a different name selling the exact same counterfeit goods.
Still, Epic is going to try to get this under control via the courts. And that’s not the only issue Epic is getting litigious over. A former QA tester is also feeling Epic’ legal wrath after leaking the details for Chapter 2 ahead of schedule.
Source: Polygon
