Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros and Behaviour Interactive over the alleged use of parts of Fallout Shelter for the Westworld video game. The news came into light after court documents filed with the U.S. District Court for Maryland were discovered.
The lawsuit was submitted last June 21, and Bethesda is seeking monetary damages together with a demand for Warner Bros. to cease the distribution of the game. In Bethesda’s claim, they stated that “The Westworld game is a blatant rip-off of Fallout Shelter,” citing that Behaviour knowingly copied and used the same code while in partnership with Bethesda.
Furthermore, Bethesda revealed that they paid Behaviour back in 2014 to help develop some aspects of Fallout Shelter. They are now claiming that the studio used several elements of Fallout Shelter including artwork, graphical designs, and code to develop the newly released Westworld mobile game for Warner Bros.
Moreover, Behaviour’s alleged use of Fallout Shelter’s assets was a complete violation of their agreement as Bethesda asserted that everything that is developed for Fallout Shelter is authored and owned by Bethesda. The Fallout publisher also accuses Behaviour that it “utilized its restricted access to Bethesda’s intellectual property, including Bethesda’s copyrighted code, trade secrets, and other rights,” in an attempt to release the Westworld game as soon as possible.
As of now, Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive are yet to respond to Bethesda’s lawsuit. You can check out the full details of the complaint here via GMG Editorial on Scribd.
