The Litigation Hammer

[Shamus Young]

The Litigation Hammer

The idea that a company could steal someone's name sounds absurd, but it's far easier - and more profitable - than you might think.

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[oranger]

And of course, the moral of the story: do your damn research before signing a contract.
And have contingencies.

edit: a flood is coming, and the animals are running. A frog comes to a riverbank, and sees a scorpion unable to cross the river. The frog gallantly swims the arachnid across, after which the scorpion stings him.
Dying, the frog asks why, to which the scorpion says, "you know what I am".

 

[AvsJoe]

Such is life. I'm boycotting Activision right now but I doubt it's making much difference (the last game of theirs I bought was THUG and the last new game was True Crime: Streets of LA). The guys in charge of Activision seem to have good heads on their shoulders (if not very moral ones).

 

[Mr Companion]

Its funny how often evil genius get mentioned and yet they gone out of buisness. Perhaps one day enough gamers will demand it that a company will make a second one, improving on all the mistakes...

Anyway on topic I agree that the attitude of "well there is probably a second side to the story" is a little bit too forgiving and relaxed. We should resist the big exploitative bastards as much as humanly possible in order to keep quality high.

 

[Chirez]

I wonder if there's an opening there for a Wikileaks style outfit, which publishes the full legal history of corporate entities, so people can actually see and know what these companies are doing.

Just because it can't legally be discussed, doesn't mean it can't be posted on the internet.

 

[Sartan0]

This is a case where having a good lawyer review a contract before you sign it is worth avoiding the later (much higher) legal fees or worse losing your creations.

Ounce of prevention pound of cure situation. Educating new and small developers about this would help a great deal. As Shamus says: ( I am paraphrasing) this is the system we have. There are ways to make it work better for you.

 

[Jhereg42]

If I want their games, I buy them used. (Hehe)

If they screw Schaefer, I buy Brutal Legend. (Hehehe)

I have not bought an ActiBliz game new in I cannot remember how long.

 

[-Drifter-]

Isn't EA or someone associated with EA suing Activision? Maybe that will strike a blow hard enough to knock some sense into them and get them to stop acting like such pricks. Doubt it, but hey, anything's possible.

 

[Mortech]

Am I a horrible person for laughing uncontrollably at the "OH MY GOD I'M ON FIRE PLEASE SOMEONE PUT ME OUT" part?

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: Yes, but it was pretty damn funny.

 

[omicron1]

@Oranger: I've heard a variation on that in which the scorpion/other poisonous/deadly animal stings/bites the hapless ferrycreature mid-transit, killing both.

 

[Albino Boo]

I'm not going to try to defend the ethics of Activision or other large companies, is not something thats unique to the gaming sector, but (you just knew there was going to be a but) they under huge pressure to produce profits. Currently you can invest in emerging markets(India, China and Brazil) get anything up 12% return on your money. OK there is risk involved but the gaming sector isn't exactly risk free. The companies are competing for investor dollars not just against other gaming companies, but against Indian steel makers, Chinese car makers and Brazilian wax manufactures (Ok I made the last one up but you get the picture).

 

[Loonerinoes]

"The truth is, this isn't so much a corruption of a perfect system as it is someone exploiting a flawed system."

Could not have said it better myself. Also nice to hear this from someone who's had some experience in these matters.

 

[Cousin_IT]

I'm sure Activision etc are of the opinion that their customers can hate them all they want, so long as they keep buying their products. Which they will.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

I honestly can't fathom why any sane person would go into business with Activision after what has come to light in the last several years. I personally make it a point to never buy anything with their name on it, and tell everyone I know about everything bad they ever do. Hell, my wife knows how much they suck and she doesn't even play games, unless you count the occasional bout of Rock Band. I also make sure I contact the developers of good games directly and say "Hey, just letting you know that I think your game looks great and I've heard great things about it and I would totally buy it...except it's published by Activision." I can't in good conscious support them at all. They are such a blight on the industry, it's unbelievable.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The idea that a company could steal someone's name sounds absurd, but it's far easier - and more profitable - than you might think.

And RealID's idea was to...

Oh, I see.

 

[Zamn]

Good article. I've read this sort of thing before and it's always depressing but people need to hear it. I do disagree with this bit though:

You could try to change the laws so that Activision (or some other bully) couldn't do this, but in doing so you'd just be opening up a new hole someplace else. There is basically no solution for this.

Now, I know nothing about law and I'm not about to suggest a solution, but that just seems a bit glib. I don't think there's any reason to resign ourselves to the idea that the system cannot be improved. My feeling, without having any expertise whatsoever on the subject, is that there's almost certainly something that could be done that would help at least a little bit. Like trying to regulate the legal system to allow more equitable access to lawyers, for example.

Whatever it is, I'm not resigned to the idea that nothing can be done. Call me an optimist.

 

[WickedArtist]

I wholeheartedly support your effort to keep calling attention to the Activision scandals, Shamus. It is undoubtedly a case of "same old, same old", but I think that as video game consumers and enthusiasts we shouldn't allow ourselves to ignore and forget just how poisonous Activision's influence is to the entire industry.

I think I might just sound a bit overly dramatic there, but every time I hear of another Activision scandal I can't help but feel repulsed by it. I personally hope they will not be able to keep at this for long, even if it means that major publisher like that has to buckle down with all the consequences that entails. However, they seem to keep consuming more and more of the industry. No wonder I keep seeing analogies to cancer whenever the name Activision pops up.

Hopefully the story of the frog and the scorpion will end with the scorpion drowning along the frog. Though I prefer an ending where the frog is smart enough not to bother with the scorpion in the first place, because that guy has a bad rep and all the flies he's dangling right now just aren't worth it.

I think I took that last analogy a bit too far.

 

[Jared]

Seems it is easier than I thought, and, for the average person it might be hard for them ot prove it was there property to begin with...wow, gotta guard ideas more carefully!