Zuffa announced this past week that it has settled its lawsuit with video game maker Ubisoft. The lawsuit arose out of Zuffa’s claim that Ubisoft’s “Fighter’s Uncaged” video game use of “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” in promoting its game.
The Fight Lawyer has the background here.
Via the UFC:
Zuffa and Ubisoft jointly announce the resolution of an ongoing disagreement between the companies. Ubisoft released for sale to the public a mixed martial arts video game involving street fighting entitled “Fighters Uncaged.”
On the packaging of the video game, text on the back cover invited players to “Become the ULTIMATE FIGHTING weapon!” Zuffa approached Ubisoft regarding the game and the use of “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” on the back cover.
Zuffa owns all right, title and interest in and to the federally registered “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” trademark referenced in registration numbers 2,925,669-2,941,044; 2,706,754 and 3,004,865. Zuffa and Ubisoft note that the companies have no association or business relationship of any kind.
To resolve this disagreement between Zuffa and Ubisoft, Ubisoft has ceased selling the “Fighters Uncaged” video game with the use of “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” on the back cover, and has changed the packaging of “Fighters Uncaged” such that “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” does not appear anywhere on the packaging.
Payout Perspective:
Here’s another case of the need to protect the mark of a company. As we recently saw with TapouT’s cease and desist notice, Zuffa believed that Ubisoft’s use of ULTIMATE FIGHTING infringed its trademark and needed to address the issue. Despite the need to incur legal fees, Zuffa accomplished its goal of protecting its mark by having Ubisoft change the way it sold its video game.
Damage already done, although I don’t think Ubisoft would have been aware of the infringement.