The Florida-based Coral Castle Museum, said built by a loving man in the early 20th century, is charged Fortnite maker Epic Games about the recent addition of the game to a new location of Coral Castle, whose museum owners are infringing on their trademark.
Located south of Miami, the Coral Castle Museum is a large garden filled with sculpted rock formations that look somewhere between an ancient archeological site and a modern miniature golf course. Now the epic of Epic Games over an aquatic-themed rock formation of the same name where was added Fortnite earlier this month as part of the season Aquaman theme. As first reported by Polygon, the owners of the museum want to remove the name of the trademark Fortnite, and for Epic Games to pay some money for everyone trying to take advantage of the Coral Castle brand.
“Both include nautical / beach motifs, castle structures, partial castle walls, and stone objects,” read part of the lawsuit. “Both also evoke the feeling of a centuries-old mysterious place.” The museum too points in his lawsuit that since the new Fortnite location has connections to Aquaman, Epic Games could have just called it Atlantis, but instead decided on Coral Castle. This is not the first time the company has been accused benefit from other people’s creations, and it also comes directly on the heels of Epic Games’ own lawsuit against Apple to be a monopoly.
Here are some side-by-side comparisons of the two Coral Castles:
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I’m not an intellectual property advocate, and although I’m trying to compare the thought experiment of love to how “mysterious” and “centuries old” the two locations look, I have more questions about the real life Coral Castle Museum. Born and raised in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, the whole of Florida remains a ‘mysterious place’ to me, and to this day I have never heard of this tourist attraction.
According to the museum’s website, the coral garden was built in 1939 by Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin “without outside support or large machinery.” But why? Apparently because “one true love” Agnes Scuffs canceled her wedding, thus, feeling “heartbroken and deeply saddened,” Leedskalnin decided to make a testimony to his unrequited love in the form of a more than 1,000 ton cut rock formation.
It is now a museum where visitors can pay a few dollars to erect a ghostly monument for perhaps one unhealthy inability of one man to simply “let go.” As FortniteThe Coral Castle is really inspired by the museum, it adds a whole new layer of bizarre lore to the Battle Royale pit stop. And even if it is not, I do not think I can ever get into a coral-themed shootout again without being haunted by the story of Leedskalnin.
Epic Games declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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