It’s been atumultuous week for Epic Games, and it’s only getting stranger. TheFortnitedeveloper is now being sued by Coral Castle, a rock garden that shares a name with a location inFortnite’slatest season.
Referred to as “Florida’s Stonehenge,” thereal-world Coral Castleis a museum that’s home to an elaborate rock garden in Miami.
Meanwhile, the digital Coral Castleappeared at the beginning ofFortnite’saquatic-themed third season. The location serves as a stand-in for Atlantis in the game and features a large stone structure akin to the Miami tourist stop.
The similarities led the company that owns the destination, Coral Castle Inc., to sue Epic for infringing on its trademark. The complaint states that the use of the name, in addition to visual similarities, could lead to public confusion.
Coral Castle Inc. is seeking damages for what it describes as “trademark infringement and unfair competition,” citing Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The news comes at a particularly weird time for Epic Games. The studio began a legal war with Apple after the company removedFortnitefrom the App Store for sidelining Apple’s in-app payment system, which takes a 30% cut from purchases. Shortly thereafter,Fortnitewas removed from the Google Play Store.
In response,Epic sued both Google and Applefor violating antitrust laws. The studio released a full campaign against the mobile giants, which includes a video parodying an old Apple ad inspired by George Orwell’s1984.
Coral Castle’s lawsuit is small in the grand scheme of that current legal war, but the timing is undoubtedly inconvenient for Epic. Players who want to see what the fuss is all about can log intoFortnite(on anything other than an iPhone or Android device) and drop into Coral Castle in the top right corner of the game’s current map.
