Ultimate Gay Fighter Forced To Change Its Name

[Andy Chalk]

Ultimate Gay Fighter Forced To Change Its Name

Ultimate Gay Fighter is seeking suggestions from fans after being forced to change its name by a "large MMA promotional company" that will go unnamed.

You may not have heard of Ultimate Gay Fighter, but at least one heavyweight company in the MMA business has, and it wasn't happy with what it sees as an infringement upon its trademark. The promotion, which Ultimate Gay Fighter developer Handsome Woman Productions did not name (but you can probably figure it out) threatened legal action if the name wasn't changed, and as a "mom and pop production company" the studio decided it had no choice but to comply.

"This decision was not easy. This potential legal situation already delayed the game several months as we deliberated our options. Our mobile gaming product is vastly different from their brand and related products," the studio wrote in a message on Facebook. "At the end of the day, our strong belief in releasing this game remains most important, and we did not want to lose everything we have worked so hard for."

Founder Michael P. Venker told Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/7/5590742/ultimate-gay-fighter-to-change-name-in-response-to-legal-tangle] that it has a pending trademark on the title, but it doesn't have the financial clout to defend it against a major corporation with a "take-no-prisoners" approach to disputes. "We offered them solutions, but this company remains firm in believing our Ultimate Gay Fighter brand threatens their brand, despite vast differences in our customer base and product," he said.

With the decision made, the studio decided to put the matter in the hands of its supporters. "We wanted to give our fans a chance to come up with a new name for Ultimate Gay Fighter, knowing we've had your support throughout this journey - from the fan art you've given us to the heartfelt messages we've received. We owe this to you," it continued. "We are so proud to hear your stories, and thank you so much for sharing your lives with us. With your continued strong support, we will make this a wonderful experience for everyone."

Ultimate Gay Fighter is currently slated to come out later this year.

Source: Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/UltimateGayFighter/photos/a.233254490173013.1073741828.157579587740504/284311401733988/?type=1&stream_ref=10]


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[FoolKiller]

1. WTF?

2. I would back door it and use the Capcom naming strategy. I would have Gay Fighter, then Super Gay Fighter, then Ultimate Gay Fighter etc.

As dumb as Gay Fighter seems, I don't think the UFC is in the right here.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I guess 'Tekken Fag Tournament' is a no

They could just rearrange the name and go with Gay Fighter Ultimate or just Gay Fighter then do what FoolKiller suggested with sequels. And anyway is the 'Ultimate' part really that important to their brand?

 

[ihavetwo]

What I am more distressed about here is "why does this game exist?"
Really, what does the world gain from this games existence?
Gay Punchy Fun Time, names are easy to make.

 

[Sarge034]

Just add more words like, "Really Ultimate Gay Fighter" or something. It's not that hard guys. Remember when "friends against grenade spamming" (fags) just had to add one word to alleviate their problem? "Friends really against grenade spamming" (frags) was fucking brilliant.

 

[dyre]

Eh, the screenshot provided doesn't really do any favors for the game's apparent portrayal of gay people. What demographic is this game catering to anyway?

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

I wonder how long it'll take before people start accusing the MMA company of hating gay people because of this? I bet you that within a week, the game will be able to use the name after an internet outcry. Because as we all know, personal opinions and the law do not matter once someone has been offended or is perceived to have been discriminated against in some way any way, shape, or form possible.

 

[EyeReaper]

I don't really understand why they have to change their name. does the MMA hold a trademark on the words "Ultimate" and "Fighter" being used together?

I think this is the perfect opportunity to rename it Fabulous Fighters though. gotta go for that alliteration.

 

[thedoclc]

Eh, the screenshot provided doesn't really do any favors for the game's apparent portrayal of gay people. What demographic is this game catering to anyway?

After watching the trailer, the art style looks like what an exceptionally ignorant 14 year old who decided to draw some anime-esque offensive stereotypes of homosexuals would make, and the animation looks to be clunky enough to be the flip book the kid made from his doodles. So, apparently, the game is aimed at people that believe gay stereotypes are funny enough that it can make up for a game being more primitive, less aesthetically pleasing, and choppier than an SNES Street Fighter II ROM and would like to pay for the privilege of playing it.

 

[dyre]

Eh, the screenshot provided doesn't really do any favors for the game's apparent portrayal of gay people. What demographic is this game catering to anyway?

After watching the trailer, the art style looks like what an exceptionally ignorant 14 year old who decided to draw some anime-esque offensive stereotypes of homosexuals would make, and the animation looks to be clunky enough to be the flip book the kid made from his doodles. So, apparently, the game is aimed at people that believe gay stereotypes are funny enough that it can make up for a game being more primitive, less aesthetically pleasing, and choppier than an SNES Street Fighter II ROM and would like to pay for the privilege of playing it.

That's more or less what I figured it would be. It does sound like a rather niche market, haha

 

[FPLOON]

Based solely on that screencap... I would name this game Fierce Fighter...

Then again, this whole claim for them to have to change their name is the part that's confusing me more than what this particular fighter is trying to do differently than any other fighter out there...

 

[Jamash]

I don't really understand why they have to change their name. does the MMA hold a trademark on the words "Ultimate" and "Fighter" being used together?

Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, also owns a trademarked reality show called The Ultimate Fighter, so swapping the word "The" with "Gay" and jumbling the word order around a bit isn't really enough to distinguish it from their IP.

It would be like someone making a fantasy work called A Song of Gay Ice Fire and getting sued by George R.R. Martin, who himself probably has to put the "R.R." in his name to distinguish himself from the Beatles producer and famous composer, who in turn probably couldn't release a book that has a title with the words "Song" and "of" even if it is literally about a song he worked on. Hell, if George Martin composed a song that was literally about ice and fire, he'd probably be restricted about what he could call it, as even The Ballard of Frozen Water and the Product of Combustion would be cutting it a bit fine.

 

[Sean Strife]

This game is still a thing? Honestly, I think the best course of action is to just cancel the damn thing. It's not like anything of value would be lost.

I wonder how long it'll take before people start accusing the MMA company of hating gay people because of this? I bet you that within a week, the game will be able to use the name after an internet outcry. Because as we all know, personal opinions and the law do not matter once someone has been offended or is perceived to have been discriminated against in some way any way, shape, or form possible.

Actually, this game has been dealing with a lot of public outcry to begin with. Nobody'll get behind this garbage game.

 

[whycantijustdeletemyaccount]

.

 

[Sarge034]

'Fabulous' gay fighter?

This is bloody ridiculous anyway. I don't claim to understand trademark law properly but this sounds like the old case of having to overzealously protect your trademark or lose the right to it completely. Pretty sure this counts as a parody or something though, and I thought that was allowed.

I think it's less about actual copyright protection as it is brand recognition protection. Obviously UGF is not the same as UFC so a copyright claim would be a sham, but it is close enough to fool those uninformed to think it might be associated with UFC. (sarcasm) Because, you know, only fighting organizations get to use three letter acronyms... (/sarcasm)