No Doubt vs. Activision suit settled
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Grammy-winning band and Call of Duty publisher agree on settlement over 2009 lawsuit related to the use of the band's likeness in Band Hero; terms not disclosed.
The high-profile case between Grammy Award-winning rock band No Doubt and big-time publisher Activision has been settled, according to an Associated Press report. The trial over the use of the band's likeness in 2009's Band Hero was scheduled to go before a jury beginning October 15.
Terms of the settlement were not revealed, and neither No Doubt's attorney nor Activision were immediately available for comment.
The band's attorney, Bert Deixler, told GameSpot in August that Activision's settlement offers, at the time, were lacking. And as for what the settlement offer may have looked like, Deixler said No Doubt was owed "millions and millions of dollars."
No Doubt sued Activision in November 2009, claiming the publisher had no contractual right to allow the group's in-game avatars to be used to perform other artists' songs.
Activision countersued No Doubt a month later, saying it is "publicly known" that characters in previous Guitar Hero games have been "unlockable" in the same fashion, suggesting No Doubt did not exercise due diligence before entering into the agreement.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
51 comments
I just logged in to say that MAXTHUNDER99 obviously you didnt even read the article. activision had permission to use there band in the game........ if you actually read the article. they sued them because you could use the band to play other bands songs.... which is the poorest excuse to sue and i hope they did get countersued cuz that's just rediculous. so basically ppl could play the game unlock no doubts band avatars and use there characters on whatever song they wanted which is how all the games are and no doubt is saying that you cant do that??. what a bunch of pansies
@acolyte82 Agreed, and I actually never even knew you could. However, if you allow your personality to be published digitally by a video game designer I would think it would be for the entirety of the game. Not just 1-2 songs. Anyway, a poor excuse to make some easy money from someone more successful than yourself.
i think they're broke that's really why they're probably doin it. it's been such a long time since they were even relevant...
...I wonder if I should go ahead and suggest that No Doubt go ahead and sue them for using music, or just let them think of it in their own time...
1 Like No Doubt sued them cause they used the band in the game without their permission. They did give them permission to use their music and not the band itself. Activision's argument is ridiculous to say that it is "publicly known" that characters have been unlockable. But the argument would be not every artist in the Hero series are unlockable. So why would No Doubt realise that they would use them in the game. It's just Activision doing poor business for a quick buck as usual but this time they'll have to pay for it.
1 Like @MAXTHUNDER99 no, there was always an agreement that the band's in-game avatars could be used to play their own songs. The question is however, whether the avatars should be able to play others peoples music. This has been allowed in just about every guitar/band hero/rock band game ever so No Doubt's case makes no sense.
@cos_serban @shadow580 @MAXTHUNDER99 It's true that the term "Publicly known" holds no relevance in terms of contracts, or legal suits. I still think that the case was entirely unjustified. I would imagine that if you were making No Doubt play other songs, as a user, you are probably a fan. Disallowing this action hurts fans. Poor business practice by No Doubt, in my opinion.
@shadow580 @MAXTHUNDER99 yes it does... if in the contract says they can use just the songs... then they have all the right to sue! They did not agree to the other part (singing other songs), so even if it's "publicly known" that they do that in the game... if it's not in the contract... well tough luck Activision
This is our law suit system in a nutshell: Hey! That's like me! I'mma sue it!
OR
Someone set a huge bomb off inside that building, and the building collapsed on my grandma! Better go sue the architect!
Seriously: the idiocy pisses me off.
3 Like And there, ladies and gents, is our legal system at work. Takes 3 years to have a hand shake agreement that probably should have happened in 2008.
5 Like So, the settlement just happened in Oct 2012, and the lawsuit was filed in 2009. Man, what a slow process.
@Ladiesman17 i think they're broke that's really why they're probably doin it. it's been such a long time since they were even relevant...
1 Like Sooo.....avatars dancing are effectively now a live performance....*slow clap* Nice. Oh and, Millions and millions of dollars.....slow down Gwen dont be TOO specific now :\
I forgot that Band Hero existed...with this suit settled, I'm pretty sure ActiBlizzard lost more money on that game than they recouped in sales.
That aside, if you completely forget about their last two embarrassingly awful albums, No Doubt is rather good - The Beacon Street Collection in particular is great.
@gatsbythepig Basically, No doubt is most likely drinking champagne imagining they did some sort of damage, and taught them a lesson. As if They Giant that is Activision cared at all.
2 Like @Sgthombre lol
That doesn't make much sense - a non-sentient object can't posses emotion.
I'm not trying to troll you or anything, it's just the context of your statement struck me as humorous.
@DanieltheDead @Sgthombre I think he meant fury. Passion and inanimate objects make awkward metaphors. Fury is fine though.
@DanieltheDead @dnguyen3 @RedLegZeff @Sgthombre Haha! I've been formally trained in typeset so I could figure out an appropriate font, and I've know how to screen print. This is very doable.
@canthugheaters @dnguyen3 @RedLegZeff @Sgthombre
That can work too, but if that's the case you're going to have to figure out how to fit all that on the official club shirt.
1 Like @DanieltheDead @dnguyen3 @RedLegZeff @Sgthombre I'd join that club. But I'd argue that this was the start of the "Club for formal logic and discussion of the literary theory of metaphors'..... Club. Now that was some fine semantics right there.
@dnguyen3 @RedLegZeff @canthugheaters @Sgthombre That's it, I now call to order the Official Gamespot Semantics Club.
<_<
@RedLegZeff @canthugheaters @DanieltheDead @Sgthombre lol word play and not much relevance to the article
1 Like @canthugheaters @DanieltheDead @Sgthombre Yeah fury could be applied to inanimate objects. We often refer to hurricanes or volcanoes with fury. The undying suns part is also tricky though. What suns die? Basically all of them, but the bigger more powerful ones die sooner. So he's saying that weak suns without much fury are the ones that express his fury I guess. I hate sitcoms with the fury of a thousand daffodils. Ha, take that.
No Doubt's first cd was actually somewhat decent and showed a lot of promise and like 15 years later this ugly bit*h is sueing a video game company? Get real like how long did those losers in no doubt sit around in a haze of smoke to come up with this stupid plot, go focus on your "art" and "talent"
Saw them live once. My ears still bleed from hearing Gwen try to sing live. She sounds horrible and looked like a sweaty meth head.
Money is definitely running low for them... why do they care if their avatars are used I other songs? I don't get why this case is "high profile."
@bobbo888 because they are famous. That makes it high profile. And they care because legally what Activision did was a breach of contract.
@bobbo888 I imagine they'd care more about that the contract was breached than the how of it.
4 Like No Doubt are butthurt that their digital likenesses were far more talented than the real band ever was.
2 Like No Doubt? Who's that? Oh wait... That '90s ska/punk band that Gwen left to make crappy pop songs... I guess money's runnin short...
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