Ubisoft have filed a lawsuit against Google and Apple, demanding that ‘Area F2’, a game they allege is a clone of Rainbow Six Siege, be removed from their storefronts (via RPS).
The news comes via a (paywalled) Bloomberg report, in which Ubisoft state in a complaint filed in a Los Angeles federal court that “Area F2,” created by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s Ejoy.com, is a “near carbon copy” of Rainbow Six Siege, and that “can’t seriously be disputed.”
“R6S is among the most popular competitive multiplayer games in the world, and is among Ubisoft’s most valuable intellectual properties” said Ubisoft. “Virtually every aspect of AF2 is copied from R6S, from the operator selection screen to the final scoring screen, and everything in between.”
“Ubisoft’s competitors are constantly looking for ways to piggyback on R6S’s popularity and to capture the attention, and money, of R6S players.”
It is likely that Ubisoft are choosing to sue the storefront owners, rather than the developers, due to the difficulties of making a foreign copyright claim. Ejoy and Alibaba are based in China – making the removal of the game from Google and Apple’s storefronts, they can at least limit the reach of this alleged knock-off.
