Game publisher Ubisoft has issued legal threats against the webmaster of the online forum community SomethingAwful.com for linking to a cartoon strip that depicts a likeness of Assassin’s Creed producer Jane Raymond engaging in vulgar and degrading sexual acts.
Richard Kyanka, who goes by the moniker “Lowtax,” received a legal letter from the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP on November 15 demanding he remove the image from the site and provide lawyers with the name and contact information of the cartoon’s creator. The letter charged the image has “caused immeasurable harm to Ms. Raymond’s reputation and career, and constitute an egregious infringement of Ms. Raymond’s personal rights and privacy rights.”
In predictable Something Awful fashion, “Lowtax” issued a roundabout and verbose reply questioning the lawyers’ sexual orientation.
The cartoonist in question, U.K.-based Dave Cheung, appears to specialize in drawing figures of mostly-naked anime female figures.
He defended the cartoon as a valid criticism of the way Ubisoft and the gaming press gave Raymond a high degree of visibility – sometimes sexually-charged – as a means of promoting the highly-anticipated 360 and PS3 title Assassin’s Creed.
Nonetheless, he also conceded his comic was “obviously tasteless and unsubtle.”
Source: SomethingAwful.com, Dave Cheung Deviant Art Page (Not Safe for Work), Brokentoys.org
