Judge Delays Activision vs. Zampella-West Trial

[WMDogma]

Judge Delays Activision vs. Zampella-West Trial

Massive Call of Duty lawsuit hits a minor snag.

While multiple details have already been leaked regarding the lawsuits between Activision and former Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, the trial itself has yet to get rolling. Unfortunately, those eager to see the multi-billion-dollar suit get off the ground will have to wait a little longer. The trial, originally planned to begin on May 29th, has been bumped to June 1st.

Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ordered the delay, stating that there were some "logistical difficulties" in gathering a large enough jury pool to review the case. Interestingly enough, Berle also ruled that the case must be completed by July 2nd, giving lawyers on both sides a mere 22 business days to explain the complexities of a case involving fraud [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117296-Activision-Tried-to-Have-Its-Employees-Computers-Hacked] to a judge and jury.

Thousands of pieces of evidence have been submitted in the past two years since Activision and Zampella/West filed their lawsuits against each other way back in 2010 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98857-Ex-Infinity-Ward-Bosses-Sue-Activision-for-Unpaid-Royalties]. Each has claimed that the other party breached a contract specifying the royalties owed to Infinity Ward and what Activision expected from the Call of Duty developers and both parties are claiming over a billion dollars in damages and compensation.

Source: Los Angeles Times [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-activision-call-of-duty-trial-delayed-until-june-1-20120524,0,6101970.story]

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[Chunga the Great]

As much as I hate what IW did to Call of Duty, I hope they pull a victory out of this one and take a few billion from Activision.

 

[shintakie10]

Ugh. Can we just get this damn thing over with so everyone can realize that West and Zampella are a pair of jackoffs who don't deserve a tenth of the sympathy they get for this thing.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Ugh. Can we just get this damn thing over with so everyone can realize that West and Zampella are a pair of jackoffs who don't deserve a tenth of the sympathy they get for this thing.

What will you do if West and Zampella are found to be right?

 

[jimbob123432]

Ugh. People are just too sue-happy these days. I wish you could only sue for the actual amount lost (like up here in Canada) and not for exorbitant amounts of "personal suffering". Can we just get this over with so everyone can go back home?

 

[shintakie10]

Ugh. Can we just get this damn thing over with so everyone can realize that West and Zampella are a pair of jackoffs who don't deserve a tenth of the sympathy they get for this thing.

What will you do if West and Zampella are found to be right?

Good fuckin luck with that. The chances of those mysoginistic pricks not actually bein pricks is somewhere in the range of not a chance in hell and episode 3 comin out in the next 2 months, but if they are somehow not complete pricks I'll give up captain crunch.

 

[weirdee]

I feel like in this case both sides should be charged for being really terrible people.

 

[Rainboq]

Ugh. Can we just get this damn thing over with so everyone can realize that West and Zampella are a pair of jackoffs who don't deserve a tenth of the sympathy they get for this thing.

What will you do if West and Zampella are found to be right?

Good fuckin luck with that. The chances of those mysoginistic pricks not actually bein pricks is somewhere in the range of not a chance in hell and episode 3 comin out in the next 2 months, but if they are somehow not complete pricks I'll give up captain crunch.

Regardless of their personalities, as horrid as they are, they put a lot of work into the CoD franchise and they should be compensated for their work. That being said, they're asshats and if Activision didn't want to pay them I can understand that.

 

[Sovereignty]

I've been curious for a while to see the real facts on this. It's easy for gamers all around to simply say, "Bad big name publisher! They are just trying to increase profits!"

Of course it's most certainly not that clear cut. No large corporation is going to risk this much so blatantly. Especially for a one off large payment.

Wonder if Activision will still get demonized even if they were found to have been in the right?

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

As much as I hate what IW did to Call of Duty, I hope they pull a victory out of this one and take a few billion from Activision.

Which game would that be?

 

[Chunga the Great]

As much as I hate what IW did to Call of Duty, I hope they pull a victory out of this one and take a few billion from Activision.

Which game would that be?

Do you mean which game started CoD's downward spiral? MW2. After CoD 4 it seems like IW just went crazy. But they're the lesser of two evils in this case.