Ubisoft and Microsoft appear to be tag-teaming a legal crackdown on people who try to pass off fake versions of Minecraft and Assassin's Creed official merchandise as the real thing.
In a complaint filed on April 19, 2023 in the Illinois Northern District Court, Ubisoft alleges that a number of individuals, corporations, and other companies have been selling unlicensed and counterfeit Assassin's Creed merchandise via a number of different storefronts including iOffer, Wish, Amazon, and the sellers' own storefronts. Per the complaint, Ubisoft says these items are "inferior limitations" that nonetheless use design elements and Assassin's Creed trademarks to deceive consumers into thinking the merchandise is genuine.
Ubisoft alleges the sellers are gaming search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure their listings are at the top of relevant search results, misdirecting consumers away from legitimate products. Additionally, Ubisoft claims the counterfeiters have evaded past attempts to take actions against them by registering new seller accounts under new aliases, maintaining numerous off-shore bank accounts, moving website hosting to servers outside the United States, and shipping products in small quantities to avoid detection by U.S. Customs. While Ubisoft provided a list of sellers it is pursuing to the court, the list is under seal and unavailable at the time of the filing.
Ubisoft is charging the unknown sellers with trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin, and violation of Illinois' Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act (which may explain why the suit is being filed in Illinois specifically). The publisher is seeking that the sellers be permanently restrained from doing the same thing in the future, the websites taken down, and their accounts shuttered across a number of online marketplaces. Ubisoft is also seeking to collect all profits from the counterfeit goods or statutory damages up to $2 million for "each and every use of their Trademarks."
Just a few days later, Microsoft filed a similar suit in the same court, in this case referring to Minecraft merchandise counterfeits on storefronts such as Amazon, Walmart, and eCRATER. It's not confirmed whether or not the complaint is against the same sellers, as Microsoft too has a sealed Schedule A listing the defendants, but given the nature of the complaint, the court, the timing, and the very existance of a sealed list, it seems likely. Even the relief Microsoft is asking for in this case is similar.
But even Microsoft admits it doesn't fully know who all the counterfeiters are, which may be why it and Ubisoft have struggled to stamp out the counterfeit operations prior to now. Ubisoft speculates in its complaint that the sellers are primarily based in China or in other foreign countries, and that the groups and individuals seem to coordinate with one another in chatrooms to share tactics, evade detection, and avoid legal action. But that seems to be the extent of its knowledge. "Tactics used by Defendants to conceal their identities and the full scope of their operation make it virtually impossible for Microsoft to learn Defendants’ true identities and the exact interworking of their counterfeit network," Microsoft's complaint reads. "If Defendants provide additional credible information regarding their identities, Microsoft will take appropriate steps to amend the Complaint."
So why, then, are Ubisoft and Microsoft hiding the list of people they're suing from the public eye? In Microsoft's motion to seal, it points out that it wants to keep the defendants from learning they're being sued until a temporary restraining order can be issued. Otherwise, Microsoft claims, the sellers will be able to wiggle out of legal consequences once again. "If Defendants were to learn of these proceedings prematurely, the likely result would be the destruction of relevant documentary evidence and the hiding or transferring of assets to foreign jurisdictions, thus frustrating the purpose of the underlying litigation and this Court’s power to grant relief," Microsoft says. "Once the temporary restraining order has been served on the relevant parties and the requested actions are taken, Plaintiff will move to unseal these documents."
The dual lawsuits represent an interesting tag-team effort to curb counterfeit video game merchandise being sold as the real thing across major online storefronts. It's an understandable one, too - having browsed both Amazon and Wish for similar items before, it's often very difficult to tell from listings what items are official and which ones are not. Generally, it's better to get them from official storefronts (Ubisoft or Microsoft's own, for instance, or storefronts that don't allow individual resellers), but if you're deal-hunting, that's not always the best option.
For now, collectors will just have to wait and see as to whether Ubisoft and Xbox's gambit here will actually make a dent in the flood of fake statuettes and branded gaming items on the market, or whether a long history of seller evasion will continue to prevail.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
