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.

Getting access to additional spectrum is the consumer electronics industry’s 2nd-highest priority, behind solving the federal deficit and economic issues, CEA President Gary Shapiro said in a meeting with reporters Tuesday. He said there’s bipartisan support for freeing up spectrum, and suggested that ultimately broadcasters might even be in favor.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn abandoned a proxy fight for control of independent filmed entertainment studio Lionsgate Monday on the eve of the company’s annual meeting. But he seemed to leave the door open for another bid. Lionsgate shares closed 4.7 percent lower at $7.09 in Monday trading.

Zoran fired back against an investment firm late Monday, accusing it of trying to “seize” control of the company’s board and putting its “short-term” interests ahead of other shareholders’. Ramius, seeking to replace Zoran’s board, last week argued that the “upside down cost structure” of the company’s TV and DVD business stemmed from “unclear and misguided long-term goals” (CED Dec 10 p1). Ramius owns 8.3 percent of Zoran and is Zoran’s second largest shareholder, after the Blackstone Group at 10 percent.

Microsoft and Electronic Arts filed a joint brief supporting Viacom’s case against YouTube at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, one of several briefs from Viacom supporters that came in Friday just before a deadline that day. A group of music publishers including BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, a group of book publishers, plus labor unions including the Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of TV and Radio Artists also lodged their arguments against YouTube on Friday. Several scholars, economists and law professors chimed in on Viacom’s side. Counsel for YouTube asked the court for a March 31 deadline for briefs from the company and allies. YouTube’s owner, Google, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

As it rolls out new or revised Energy Star specifications, the EPA will look for opportunities to address lifecycle issues of Energy Star products, an agency official told us. A top-level review of Energy Star products is under way and “one thing we are working on is to flag products that have significant greenhouse gas emissions outside of the use phase, associated either with manufacturing, transport” or disposal, said Katharine Kaplan, Energy Star product manager. A first draft of the revised Energy Star specification for battery chargers released last week seeks to deal with the products’ disposal and recycling issues.

Gary Shapiro’s “defining moment” came more than two years ago at a banquet for the SINOCES show in Qingdao, China, when he wanted to deck the “repugnant idiot” of a Chinese provincial government chief for insulting the U.S. over its mishandling of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the CEA president says in his new book, The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. At first, “I felt my blood boiling” at the Chinese dignitary’s derogatory words and gestures about the U.S. economy and America’s declining stature compared with China, Shapiro recalls. But in time, the words and deeds of the “grumpy” government official “changed me,” planting a “seed” that “grew into a tree of resolve,” he says. The book is due to be released on Jan. 6, the opening day of CES.

U.S. PS3 sales disappointed in November despite the new, heavily-promoted PlayStation Move motion-sensing control system, as the Xbox 360 and Wii far outsold Sony’s console, NPD’s data showed. The Nintendo DS was the month’s best-selling system, moving more than 1.5 million units. That was despite some analysts predicting the portable system could struggle ahead of the March introduction of the 3DS.

A bill prefiled last week in Washington State would set efficiency standards for a host of consumer electronics products, making it the first state in position to move on the issue in 2011. HB-1003 by Rep. Jeff Morris, a Democrat, targets TVs, compact audio products, DVD players and recorders and external power supplies. The measure also sets power-factor requirements for TVs, similar to regulations approved by the state’s Office of Administrative Law in September to take effect in January.

Amid deep discounts being offered to drive holiday sales, retailers are reporting shortages of Panasonic’s VT series 3D-capable plasma TVs, with the 65-inch model said to be discontinued beyond inventory that has shipped. The shortage of Panasonic plasma TVs appears confined to the VT series of 50-, 54-, 58- and 65-inch sets, the latter two being the most affected, retailers said. Since larger national chains like Best Buy have advance purchase contracts, smaller and regional dealers are bearing the brunt of the shortfall, retailers said.