Courtney Love Threatens To Sue Activision Over Kurt Cobain’s Appearance In GH5

We all saw the videos of late Kurt Cobain in GH5. And we all laughed about it and shook our heads. Well, looks like Courtney Love isn’t very pleased either. To quote her twitter:

“For the record this Guitar Hero shit is breach of contract on a Bullys part and there will be a proper addressing of this and retraction.” later adding “WE are going to sue the shit out of [Activision] we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises.”

Activision’s statement regarding the matter reads as follows:

Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero 5.’ Tim Riley, vice president of Activision, also told the Guardian: “Courtney supplied us with photos and videos. She picked the wardrobe and hairstyle, which turned out to be the ‘Teen Spirit’ look, then we went back and forth over changes ‘“ some subtle, some not so subtle.

Which in turn was commented by Keith Fink, Love’s attorney (via VG247):

Activision’s statement is not accurate in suggesting that they were given an unfettered use of Kurt’s name and likeness. The agreement Activision has with the trust doesn’t grant them the right to use his name and likeness in ways that denigrate his image. We are demanding the trust take appropriate action to protect Mr. Cobain’s image and would hope Activision would do so on its own accord and prohibit users of the game from singing songs of others.

Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, former Nirvana members, have also expressed their unease over the use of Cobain’s likeness in Guitar Hero 5, telling the Associated Press:

While we were aware of Kurt’s image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn’t know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in ‘re-locking’ Kurt’s character so that this won’t continue in the future.

The problem here is the fact that players can use Cobain’s avatar with any song in the game, which can have some *ehem* interesting results. I can understand her reaction, but apparently she did sign a contract with Activision that didn’t permit the use with other songs. Or maybe it was hidden in the fine print. Or maybe (most likely) Activision pulled a dick move and just used him anyway.

My thoughts on this? Activision should give in. Even if they have a contract, and they love the money they make with GH5. Kurt Cobain deserves better than to be used as a puppet for thousands of idiots who will try to find the most hilarious song he can sing in the most effeminate way.

Via Edge Online