Activision Countersues No Doubt in Band Hero Spat

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In response to No Doubt's lawsuit alleging improper use of band members' likenesses in 'Band Hero' last month, publisher Activision has launched a counter-suit against the band, alleging contractual breaches which resulted in the band's "unjust enrichment."

In the initial suit filed by No Doubt, the band claims that while they agreed to license their likenesses for 'Band Hero,' they didn't agree to allow their likenesses to be used for other bands' in-game song performances.

In Activision's recent legal filing, the publisher defends a contrary position, arguing that the ability to "unlock" characters for use when playing other bands' songs has been a feature of its music games since 2005. Activision further claims that this feature is "publicly known," though does not mention whether this type of likeness-usage was specifically mentioned in its contract with No Doubt.

Activision also admits that while "it is possible to program a videogame whereby particular in-game characters can only be selected when certain songs are played, the Plaintiff first requested this only after the "Band Hero" programming was finalized, had been submitted to all of the U.S. console manufacturers for approval and had been approved for manufacture by most console manufacturers..." This particular bit of justification seems to imply that had No Doubt made its concerns known earlier, Activision would have been more accommodating.

The countersuit, filed in California Central District Court last week, denies any wrongdoing on the part of Activision. The publisher seeks compensatory damages from the band, alleging that on top of the likeness agreement, No Doubt also promised to help market 'Band Hero,' but was "unjustly enriched by its wrongful conduct against Activision, including by retaining money paid to the band for services it then refused to provide."

It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out, and its fun to speculate; however, without being able to review the specific language in Activision's contract with No Doubt, sorting through this mess is still a lot like walking into spider webs.

From The Chatty
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    December 9, 2009 4:00 PM

    stop sueing stupid publishers!

    they are destroying the creative and innovative gaming sector more and more with these actions and their buy-outs!

    its a bad evolution that the publishers are getting hollywood studios proportions and behaviour...

    Where is the time when small company's where independent and made so much creative and pure addictive fun games... Sure there were publishers, but they didn't decide the policy of the game developpers...

    Origin, 3drealms, westwood, bullfrog, maxis, bluebyte, black isle studios, ID software, Sierra and all the wonderfull game developpers that made me get up early to play those games...

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      December 9, 2009 4:06 PM

      Oh Jesus, just STFU with your clueless BS - Activision IS PART OF THE FUCKIN PARASITES, it has NOTHING to do with creativity, THAT'S THE BAND, you idiot.

      I wish EVERY ARTIST WOULD SUE THEIR PARASITIC STUDIOS AND PUBLISHERS.

      DIE, King Kotick et al, DIE ALL OF YOU PARASITES already!

      • reply
        December 10, 2009 1:45 AM

        ow yes... lets insult me...

      • reply
        December 10, 2009 10:43 AM

        No Doubt didn't read their contract I'm sure. Activision, while money focused, didn't seem to do anything wrong here.

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      December 9, 2009 4:06 PM

      I really miss Origin.

    • reply
      December 10, 2009 8:28 AM

      *sighs longingly for old school westwood*

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      December 10, 2009 10:27 AM

      You post isn't coherent. Are you angry at activision being sued? Are you angry about activision suing someone? Do you just miss old games and have a touch of dementia, because you make no sense.

      Look, the small company's are still out there. They aren't the same small companies as before, but when was the last time something stayed the same for 10 years in the entertainment industry and it was a GOOD thing?

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