Activision Wins First Round of Too-accurate Guitar Hero Cover Case

The Romantics' injunction for Activision to stop sales of Harmonix's Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s (PS2) has been denied in a preliminary hearing, though its pursuit of unspecified damages continues.

Earlier this year, the band sued publisher Activision, claiming that the game's cover of well-known Romantics tune "What I Like About You" was too accurate. The cover, which was produced by Wavegroup Sound, was made with permission of the respective copyright holders.

According to Activision, the ruling indicated that, in terms of copyright, it "did exactly what the company was supposed to do in developing the product.

"Activision is pleased with the ruling and thinks that the case is without merit," the publisher stated. "The company believes video games represent a growing opportunity for the music industry to reach new audiences and a strong source of potential license revenue for both bands and music publishers."