At the start of last month, No Doubt found out their characters could be unlocked and made to play any song the player wants in Band Hero. They were not too happy with this and started their uphill legal action against the game’s publisher Activision.

Whilst all this was going on, No Doubt didn’t help out with any of the promotion for the new game, something Activision claim to have already paid the band to do. It’s also listed in the band’s contract that they’ll do some PR, so it’s not something they can refuse to do lightly. Activision want their money back after No Doubt’s refusal to help and are now taking the whole band to court.

Looking over the contract and legal papers (available as a .pdf here) the whole issue seems to hinge on one fairly vague sentence in the contract agreed to by No Doubt. The contract states that Activision have the right to ‘œuse the Licensed Property (including [No Doubt]‘s likeness as provided lay or approved by Artist ) solely in [Band Hero]‘.

Things get a bit muddier when the contract also states that Activision will talk to the band whenever  No Doubt’s likeness or name are used in-game. Something I assumed they did once, rather than for every song in the game.

Unless there is some other evidence No Doubt can find, or if there’s laws protecting people misunderstanding contracts, I can’t see this ending well. No Doubt agreed to be in the game and promote it, Activision paid them for it and the band refused to hold up their side of things.

Via: Kotaku