Ubisoft Mum on Suit Filed Against it Over New Kinect Videogame

Ubisoft declined comment Tuesday after Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Zuffa sued the publisher in U.S. District Court, Las Vegas, over the new Kinect for Xbox 360 videogame Fighters Uncaged. The plaintiff claimed the publisher was guilty of trademark infringement due to wording on the back cover of the game’s packaging that “invites players to ‘Become the ULTIMATE FIGHTING weapon’.” Zuffa also claimed in the suit, filed Thursday, that Ubisoft was guilty of trademark dilution, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices. It asked for unspecified damages, legal fees, and preliminary and permanent injunctions.

Ubisoft rival THQ signed a licensing deal with Zuffa that allows THQ to make games in the UFC Undisputed series that use UFC fighters, names and other Zuffa trademarks, Zuffa said in the suit. Two games have been released in THQ’s series.

But Ubisoft didn’t license the rights to use UFC trademarks for its new mixed martial arts (MMA) game that makes use of Microsoft’s new Kinect motion-sensing system, Zuffa said. “Use of the Ultimate Fighting name and mark is identical or confusingly similar to the use of the UFC Marks, including the Ultimate Fighting name and mark on Zuffa’s licensed video games,” the suit said. “By using the words ULTIMATE FIGHTING, and setting them apart in all capital letters,” Ubisoft is “creating or attempting to create an association” that doesn’t exist between Fighters Uncaged and the UFC, Zuffa claimed.

Zuffa also criticized Ubisoft for inviting players of the game to “Charge head first into the vicious world of illegal fighting,” claiming that “tarnishes the goodwill Zuffa has” established with its UFC trademarks. Zuffa has “grown a successful MMA organization by moving away from the image of MMA as illegal street fighting, and taking it into the realm of a legitimate sport,” it claimed. Because of Ubisoft’s infringement, Zuffa “has suffered, and will continue to suffer” damages, the plaintiff claimed.