Chinese augmented reality (AR) start-up Nreal remains locked in a tense legal battle with Epic Games after filling a countersuit requesting Epic to pay Nreal’s court fees, according to reports.
The news follows a three-year court battle over the use of the word ‘Real’ in regards to AR products.
Nreal gained partnerships after its impressive debut at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and secured a round of investments from Shunwei Capital, China Growth Capital, APlus, Siasun and iQIYI as a result, totalling $15 million.
Epic Games’ ‘Unreal Engine’ is famous for video game development, but has recently seen wider use across AR, virtual reality (VR) and volumetric video productions, and recently filling a lawsuit at the Chinese firm during it’s planned entry into the United States.
A Timeline of legal battles
According to Epic’s 2018 filling, the trademarks ‘Nreal’ and ‘Unreal’ were visually similar and could create confusion as both parties work with the same technology partners.
Epic’s lawsuit forced Nreal to put its long-awaited US expansion on hold, but Nreal’s parent company, Hangzhou Tairuo Technology (HTT), battled Epic’s original filling.
Furthermore, investors came at a great time for Nreal, giving the company vital financial support.
HTT quickly responded to Epic’s lawsuit, stating the trademarks and logos were “sufficiently distinctive and different.”
HTT’s counterpoints added shared partners were “sophisticated” enough to notice the difference between to the two groups.
Epic and Nreal later agreed to enter a 60-day negotiation period in 2019, which was short-lived as the firms begun locking horns following HTT’s request that Epic pays all related court fees.
Struggle To Enter the US Market
The scandal follows news from Ex-Magic Leap software engineer Dr Xu Chi, whom former employees accused of stealing company secrets in a lawsuit dismissed dismissed in July.
The former executive later co-founded Nreal and used his experience to create smartglasses that connect to an external computer or smartphone. The solution amazed onlookers at CES and now Nreal offers two products — Nreal ‘Light’ and ‘Nebula’ — through selected teleco retailers.
