Epic Games is suing the organizers behind the unofficial U.K. based Fortnite Live event which occurred over the weekend in Norwich, England. The company is suing the organizers due to the use of Fortnite branding for the promotion of the event without permission. The news of Epic Games taking legal action came via an email sent to attendees of the event by the owner of the Exciting Events, the organizers of the event, Shaun Lord. Exciting Events had two more Fortnite Live events planned, but Lord would state:
Epic Games, the owners of Fortnite, have now forced the shut down of the two pre-booked future Fortnite Live events, with the immediate removal of all promotional communication from the public domain, which is why you will have seen all of the Fortnite Live media disappear.
The Fornite Live event hosted a variety of activities for attendees to participate in including archery, rock climbing, and banks of PCs to play the game on. However, the event was considered disastrous as the around 3000 attendees were forced to wait in lines for hours and even had to pay to play the game on the PCs at the event, though the game is free to play. Lord stated in his email that they were able to quicken the pace of entry which was “successful and Sunday visitors enjoyed a fantastic atmosphere.”
According to Lord, the legal action taken by Epic Games had a “catastrophic impact” on Exciting Events. The company would have to delay refunds to attendees of the event. Along with this, the legal action has caused the immediate decision for Exciting Events to “cease all trading activities” as the company tries “to limit the losses to third parties as far as possible.”
This isn’t the only legal battle the company is currently in the midst of. Many celebrities including Alfonso Ribeiro and rappers 2 Milly and BlocBoy JB are trying to sue Epic Games for the use of certain dance moves as emotes in Fortnite. However, Ribeiro was recently denied the copyright for his dance which hurts his case, and the company has tried to get 2 Milly’s lawsuit dismissed.