11, 2019.MONTREAL - A Superior Court judge has authorized a lawsuit brought by Quebec parents who allege their children became addicted to the popular online video game Fortnite. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. Their class action request likens the dependence to a drug addiction, noting that the World Health Organization made a decision last year to declare video game addiction, or “gaming disorder,” a disease. sought permission to sue Epic Games, as well as its Canadian affiliate based in British Columbia, on behalf of parents who allege their children have become dependent on the game. In October, Montreal-based Calex Legal Inc. The case isn’t the only one to involve Fortnite that is winding its way through the courts in Quebec.
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He also pointed out that the revenue model of Fortnite - which is free to download and depends on players making in-game purchases to make money - may make the company particularly sensitive to any interference in its marketing strategy. He said video game companies such as Epic Games International have become aggressive in protecting their intellectual property, precisely because leaks are virtually impossible to prevent unless employees police themselves and refrain from doing it - under the threat of a lawsuit if need be. “The reason is likely that they want to send a message to everyone they work with, that people who leak information will face legal consequences - it’s not something they can do and get away with.” “If they’ve suffered serious commercial losses on a worldwide scale, (the defendant) is not going to have the assets to pay that back,” said Shortt, who specializes in the video game industry. Michael Shortt, a Montreal-based intellectual property lawyer with law firm Fasken, believes the lawsuit is likely less about money and more about sending a message to workers. The other two cases were in the United States. A spokesperson for Epic Games confirmed that this is the third time the company has brought legal action against employees under similar circumstances. The interactive multiplayer game has become a global phenomenon, with over 250 million downloads to date, according to the filing. The company alleges Johnston violated a non-disclosure agreement and is seeking yet-unspecified damages exceeding $85,000. Calls and an email to the addresses listed for Johnston in the court documents went unanswered, and The Canadian Press was unable to verify whether he is represented by a lawyer. 13, the day after the image was posted, the documents say.Īccording to the documents, Johnston admitted taking the screenshot and emailing it to himself, but said he didn’t know how it ended up online.
The investigation concluded Johnston had shared the image with his playing partners, the court documents say. The user who posted the image on the forum, who went by the name “chaad4,” had three friends in common with a user named “FloocasJ,” whose email corresponded to Johnston’s. “As the creative projects created by the claimant require a long period of time between the start of their conception and their commercialization, confidentiality is thus, throughout the process, essential in order to offer its users innovative projects at the forefront of the video game technology industry,” the company wrote in the filing.Īccording to the allegations, which have not been tested in court, an internal investigation by Keywords Studios traced the origins of the leak back to Johnston, who was allegedly seen taking the screenshot on security camera footage.
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