No Doubt and Activision Settle Lawsuit

Marshall Honorof

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No Doubt and Activision Settle Lawsuit


After three years, the Band Hero dispute is finally over.

Renowned orator Martin Luther King Jr. once quipped that "The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice." He probably did not foresee the lengthy legal dispute between game publisher Activision and rock band No Doubt when he said that, but the two parties might be inclined to agree today. While neither one wanted to give many details, the long courtroom drama ended in a settlement between the two.

The agreement comes just shy of two weeks before the case would have gone to court. Earlier this year, a judge ruled that [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117516-No-Doubt-Activision-Lawsuit-Finally-Heads-to-Trial] No Doubt had grounds to sue Activision based on its inclusion of a playable facsimile of vocalist Gwen Stefani without compensating the band. The judge scheduled a court date for October 15, in which No Doubt could levy Activision with accusations of breach of contract, fraud, and violation of publicity rights. At present, neither party has disclosed the terms of the settlement, but they also do not appear interested in pursuing the matter any further.

Given the waning popularity of the music/rhythm genre, it's possible that both Activision and No Doubt realized their efforts could be better spent elsewhere. At this point, there's not much money to be made from a three-year-old entry in a series that's, for all intents and purposes, covered in spiderwebs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZktNItwexo].

Source: Associated Press [http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-10-03-Games-No%20Doubt/id-0764d8ac9e444a89bdfcac79b6af255f]

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Mouse_Crouse

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Apr 28, 2010
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As silly as I thought it was for No Doubt to get upset (let alone sue) I'm glad it's over. Honestly I think it should have gone to trial and shown how every character could be used for every song and that's the way it had always been. I don't know the terms of the contract itself, but it was common knowledge for anyone working with Guitar Hero. Aside from that I thought it was silly to be upset at all, why do you care if someone has you play something in the game it's not like anyone is going to mistake 'Ring of Fire' as yours.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Jan 19, 2011
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I actually forgot that that happened.

Well, yay?

Maybe both sides will just let this go away seeing as the music/rhythm genre is practically no more, and it would be silly if they let this drag on.
 

RandV80

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This is the first time I heard about the case so I don't really have an opinion one way or the other (except a bias a against Activision), but the genre now being dead is completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the millions that was already made off of it. Saying "oh well we're not making money from it anymore" doesn't matter in a court of law.
 

Beautiful End

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Ahhh...i c wat u did dur, Escapist. Spiderwebs...

Anyway, I didn't know this was still going on. Didn't this start when Band Hero came out? And wasn't Gwen ok with this, what with the extras in that game that showed her being motion captured for the game? I can't even remember how that started...

But I guess something went wrong there. I mean, Gwen is Just a girl who wants justice, right? I guess you can say she didn't want any dirty Bathwater to affect her career--

Okay, I tried. You win this round, Escapist.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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I love pictures like that. You know, pictures where everyone is visibly straining to look like a douche lol.