Krafton to sue Apple, Google over PUBG Mobile copyright infringement in Free Fire

Krafton, the maker of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), has sued Garena over several copyright violations. The Korean company filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles Federal court against the Singaporean organization.

It alleged that Garena copied many of PUBG's copyright features, including its structure, pre-game waiting lobby area, jumping from the plane, in-game items, equipment, play maps, as well as locations. The charge is against Garena's two battle royale games, Free Fire and Free Fire Max.

Apart from that, they sued Apple and Google for not stopping the sales and hosting these Garena titles in their respective stores. YouTube, the video hosting service, was also accused of hosting Free Fire gameplay videos.

Before filing the lawsuit, the Bundang-gu, Seongnam, South Korean-based firm asked Garena to stop selling Free Fire and Free Fire Max in December, but the latter refused.

Similarly, Krafton requested Apple and Google to cease distribution of both titles, but to no avail. In addition, they asked YouTube to take down numerous posts that featured both titles, but they also did not comply.

Comparison between BGMI and Free Fire (Image via Krafton)

The developer's lawsuit said:

"Since the initial release, Garena has wrongfully authorized Apple and Google to distribute hundreds of millions of copies of the Free Fire app through their respective online 'app' stores — the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. Indeed, upon information and belief, Garena has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from its global sales of the infringing apps, and many of the infringing acts have occurred in the United States. Upon information and belief, Apple and Google have similarly earned a substantial amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire, as both platforms retain a significant portion of what users spend within the infringing game."

This is not the first time Krafton has taken Garena to court. In 2017, they accused the latter of plagiarism, and it was resolved in a Singapore court, although there was no licensing agreement.

More comparison between BGMI and Free Fire (Image via Krafton)

The company also asked the federal court for damages that included Garena's profits from Free Fire sales and its request to block sales of both the titles.

The lawsuit added:

"Despite these requests and warnings, Defendants have failed to comply with their obligations under the law. As set forth herein, Krafton seeks redress for Defendants' blatant and willful infringement of its copyrights in Battlegrounds."

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Krafton's PUBG and Garena Free Fire in brief

PUBG PC was launched in 2017, and it instantly became a hit. A few months after, Garena released Free Fire for mobiles, and it was allegedly similar to PUBG.

In 2018, Tencent and Krafton released PUBG for mobiles. Both Free Fire and PUBG Mobile have been raging successes since then. With over 800 million copies sold, the former has been the most downloaded game over the last three years, while PUBG has brought in the most revenue.

On September 28, 2021, Garena released Free Fire Max, an improved version of its game. Sensor Tower estimates that this helped Garena reach $1.1 billion in revenue.

In contrast, the plaintiff's new title, PUBG: New State, has been met with mixed reviews. PUBG Mobile generated more than $2.9 billion in 2021, thus crossing $7 billion in revenue since its inception.