UFC owner files lawsuit against Ubisoft

Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Zuffa LLC is taking Ubisoft to court over the marketing of Kinect game Fighters Uncaged.

Zuffa claims a phrase on the back of the game’s box is confusingly similar to the use of UFC Marks, including the ‘Ultimate Fighting’ name and mark on Zuffa licensed video games,” according to court documents obtained by Gamasutra.

The phrase in question is: Become the ultimate fighting weapon.”

UFC’s parent firm also alleges that Ubisoft’s use of the trademark tarnishes the UFC brand by associating martial arts with illegal street fighting.

Court documents stated: Zuffa has grown successful by moving away from the image of mixed martial arts as illegal street fighting. This was no easy task, and required years and many efforts to reach today’s legitimacy and widespread acceptance.”

Zuffa is seeking damages against the trademark and wants to prevent further distribution of Fighters Uncaged until the phrase is removed.

THQ owns the official publishing rights to produce UFC-licensed games. Its latest title UFC Undisputed 2010 went on sale earlier this year on Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP. A new fitness-based title, UFC Personal Trainer, is due for release in April 2011.