Ubisoft Sues Apple and Google Over Distribution of Alleged 'Ripoff' Game

Ubisoft Entertainment this week levied a lawsuit against Apple and Google, accusing them of selling a "ripoff" of its popular video game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, reports Bloomberg.

unnamed
Ubisoft filed a complaint in federal court in Los Angeles, claiming that the game "Area F2," developed by Qookka Games, is a "near carbon copy" of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, aiming to "piggyback" off its popularity. Ubisoft said that it has notified Apple and Google that Area F2 is infringing its copyrights, but both companies have refused to remove the game from the Google Play and Apple App stores.

As one of Ubisoft's most valuable intellectual properties, Rainbow Six: Siege is played as a competitive e-sport, has 55 million registered players worldwide, and according to Ubisoft’s copyright infringement claim, is played by more than three million users every day. Ubisoft argues that the lawsuit can't be "seriously disputed" and that "virtually every aspect of AF2" is copied from Rainbow Six: Siege, "from the operator selection screen to the final scoring screen, and everything in between."

Ubisoft did not elaborate on why it is suing the app store operators for enabling distribution of the game rather than developer Qookka Games itself for the initial infringement. Qookka Games, owned by Alibaba’s Ejoy, is located in China, potentially making an international copyright claim more difficult. It remains unclear whether Ubisoft plans to file a separate lawsuit against the developer, in addition to app store operators.

Area F2 has over 75,000 reviews on the Google Play Store, and more than 2,000 on Apple's App Store, and many reviews on both platforms directly note the similarities to Ubisoft's title. Google and Apple have not yet responded to Bloomberg's requests for a comment.

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...

Top Rated Comments

HiVolt Avatar
65 months ago
Copyright infringement from China? The hell you say....
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dawhol9 Avatar
65 months ago

And to be clear, by taking a cut of sales on the App Store, if it was properly notified and did not act, a platform maker like Apple, who controls the distribution channel for its platform, is directly and deliberately profiting from the infringement. If Apple is aware of it and continues to sell it, they have a potential problem.
Not so fast. Apple is not the person to determine ownership of intellectual property if there is a dispute. Thats the job of the courts. If a lawsuit were to happen between the two parties over ownership a judge could grant an injunction to NOT PAY those Royalties because the results of the copyright lawsuit is pending..but they are not suing for ownership...they are suing Apple for distributing what someone else claims is theirs. Losing case, and they know it. Wouldnt be surprised if this got thrown out. They are hoping the negative press will make Apple and Google remove it so no money is made from it. Imagine if I said..Hey that Emimen song sounds like mine. Suing Apple because its on AppleMusic...and every other streaming service as well...and also any record store that sells Eminem...not how it works. I gotta sue Marshall Mathers and get the money owed to me FROM HIM. Apple has ZERO responsibility to investigate ownership since to get it into the App Store you are saying you legally own it, and if you dont YOU are liable for damages and possibly jail time.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
65 months ago
Ubisoft is suing the distributors (Apple and Google) to block the distribution and sale of the game. They're doing that because they know they don't stand a chance of a favorable outcome against Alibaba in a Chinese court.

It will be interesting to see the responses from Apple and Google. One of them desperately wants to get back into China (Google) and the other desperately wants to stay in China (Apple).
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Justanotherfanboy Avatar
65 months ago
While I am not a lawyer...
This seems like a weird move to try to put the impetus on Apple/Google to be the arbiters of what are “safe” similarities and what are not.... none of the app submissions guys working at Apple or Google passed the bar, worked their way up to being a judge, and have clear & definitive knowledge of copyright nuances in every area they operate in.

Think of it like this:
Wrangler starts using Levi rivets in their jeans, so Levis sues............ Walmart?


Not so fast. Apple is not the person to determine ownership of intellectual property if there is a dispute. Thats the job of the courts. If a lawsuit were to happen between the two parties over ownership a judge could grant an injunction to NOT PAY those Royalties because the results of the copyright lawsuit is pending..but they are not suing for ownership...they are suing Apple for distributing what someone else claims is theirs. Losing case, and they know it. Wouldnt be surprised if this got thrown out. They are hoping the negative press will make Apple and Google remove it so no money is made from it. Imagine if I said..Hey that Emimen song sounds like mine. Suing Apple because its on AppleMusic...and every other streaming service as well...and also any record store that sells Eminem...not how it works. I gotta sue Marshall Mathers and get the money owed to me FROM HIM. Apple has ZERO responsibility to investigate ownership since to get it into the App Store you are saying you legally own it, and if you dont YOU are liable for damages and possibly jail time.
THIS! 1000x
This would set a bizarre precedent & open the floodgates forcing Apple to hear every perceived grievance.
I wonder how long app submissions would take if Apple employees in that department were spending 99% of their time responding to thousands of claims from devs that competitors are too much like them, & busy trying to cross reference every single other app that has come out in the past decade to scour for similarities, so they don’t get sued.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimAtLaw Avatar
65 months ago

Ubisoft is suing the distributors (Apple and Google) to block the distribution and sale of the game. They're doing that because they know they don't stand a chance of a favorable outcome against Alibaba in a Chinese court.

It will be interesting to see the responses from Apple and Google. One of them desperately wants to get back into China (Google) and the other desperately wants to stay in China (Apple).
And to be clear, by taking a cut of sales on the App Store, if it was properly notified and did not act, a platform maker like Apple, who controls the distribution channel for its platform, is directly and deliberately profiting from the infringement. If Apple is aware of it and continues to sell it, they have a potential problem.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dawhol9 Avatar
65 months ago

This is 100% not true. Apple and Google can make a decision regarding any app in their app stores without a judgment by the court. They do it all the time. There have been numerous articles on MR and other tech sites about Apple removing apps, removing and reinstating apps, requiring apps to modify function. Both companies can make a decision to remove the offending app at anytime with no input from the courts.

Unfortunately, everything you wrote is wrong. IANAL but I know it's 100% the responsibility of Apple and Google (A/G) to ensure the apps in their respective stores aren't violating IP laws. Not ZERO. Just like it's the responsibility of a brick & mortar store owner to ensure they aren't selling counterfeits. Ubisoft says they notified both companies and neither removed the game. Neither did. Which apparently lead Ubisoft to sue to block distribution. Most likely what they thought to be the most effective way to ensure EJoy doesn't unfairly benefit from Ubi's IP.

Your music analogy was a poor choice. If you said a song from Slim Shady sounded like yours, you'd have recourse in the DMCA. In this hypothetical, you could request to have the song taken down from iTunes, Youtube, Spotify, etc.

"Suing Apple because its on AppleMusic...and every other streaming service as well...and also any record store that sells Eminem...not how it works." - you

↑↑↑ - "That's exactly how it works." - me

Ubisoft in real life, and you in your hypothetical, could potentially sue anyone in the distribution chain including end users.
Nope you are 10000% incorrect.

You say Apple takes things down and makes people change apps all the time. Yes they do because they have not adhered to APPLES rules on Apps. NEVER for copyright infringement WITHOUT a court judgement. I know this PERSONALLY.

Please show me instances of Apple removing an App because it was too similar to another app? If so why are there hundreds of Solitaire games? They are all similar....

Apple is NOT required by law to go through every app and DECIDE whether its too close to another app. Its not their job and thats what a court is for.

Again you are wrong when it comes to a music copyright. If my song sounded like a Slim Shady song, I can REQUEST it to be removed from everywhere (anyone can request anything ...free country) but guess what...NO ONE WOULD have to do anything because a dispute in ownership has to be decided in a court of law.

Remember the Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines" case. Well Marvin Gaye's estate said the song sounded too much like a Marvin Gaye song. Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams who wrote it said no it was different. iTunes didnt stop selling it. No one pulled it. No one stopped streaming it. No brick and mortar store stopped selling it. Not one of those entities were sued. Marvin Gaye's estate sued the WRITERS of that song for copyright infringement. It went to court and Marvin Gaye's estate was awarded millions from Robin Thicke and Pharrell NOT iTunes or any store for selling it. No store got sued and no one pulled it. Not Apple's job.

Countefeit goods has ZERO to do with Copyrights. Its illegal to sell counterfeit and if a store is doing so, they can be sued as well as arrested. That has nothing to do with this.

The game in question isn't a counterfeit. It's not calling itself Rainbow 6 by Ubisoft. Its a game that is similar. Is it too similar? Thats what a court decides.

Here is a good one...what if...the developer of game #1 leaves the company they worked for and takes his code with him as part of his agreement with that company. That code is then sold to another company and they release game #2 with that code. Its similar because its the same code...but it was purchased legally...is that copyright infringement?

That's what the legal system is for. It may be far more complex than it is on the surface. Apple didnt remove it because unless a court has said its copyright infringement then it isn't.

When Microsoft released Windows...did Apple sue every computer store for selling it? No they sued Microsoft for copyright infringement.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)