Legal Spiderwebs
After No Doubt made a big legal song and dance over Activision's use of their avatars to play non-No Doubt songs in the game Band Hero, the game publisher has decided to hit back, countersuing the rockers for allegedly breaching their contract and unjustly enriching themselves off the game's back.
Back in November, No Doubt had kicked up a stink when it found gamers could use their likeness to play such horrors as David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Queen - all, obviously inferior bands.
Indeed, No Doubt went on to say that by allowing this travesty to occur, Activision was reducing them to a "virtual karaoke act." Yes, Slash is a Guitar Hero lapdog, so what? One would think they hadn't signed up for this in the first place.
Not putting up with any temper tantrum, rock n roll antics, Activision has filed a counterclaim in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division. Included in the claim is a copy of the Professional Services and Character License Agreement between the parties, dated May 21, 2009.
Activison says that while it "admits that although it is possible to program a videogame whereby particular in-game characters can only be selected when certain songs are played, 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."
