Activision Caught in No Doubt’s Legal Spiderwebs
No Doubt has pulled a Courtney Love and sued Activision for using their likenesses in their new title Band Hero in ways the band didn’t consent to.
Much like the Kurt Cobain fiasco in Guitar Hero 5, players can make No Doubt’s band members perform songs that weren’t originally written by them. Apparently, Activision thought it best that they don’t speak to the band about this feature before including it. Since Gwen Stefani is just a girl, I’m sure she doesn’t want her avatar singing the likes of KoRn’s “Word Up” cover (I’d rather pour boiling water into my ear canals than listen to that song, anyway).
So far, there’s no word on whether Activision is facing this issue head-on, or just running away from it.
As much as I think it’d be hella good to make Gwen Stefani sing some Jackson 5, I have to side with the band here. This is the second time in as many months that we’ve heard claims of Activision deceiving artists in their games. When it was just Courtney Love, I think we all were trying to figure out if it was a legitimate claim or if she was just being her usual batshit-insane self. Now that another, slightly less publicly crazy band is calling shenanigans too, it seems much more plausible that Activision is truly up to no good here.
I doubt this will be cleared up by Sunday morning.
Via: Rolling Stone
Underneath It All I think it just boils down to what the contract says. I mean, if it’s Rock Steady in its wording then the band will just have to Move On. You can do it, that is, anything you like, as long as they signed the contract. I think at this point it’s probably Too late so I’ll end it on this; in my head I think Activision are probably fine.