The Romantics sue over 'virtually indistinguishable' cover in Guitar Hero '80s

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 21st 2007 at 8:00PM }

What I like about you, is you really know how to sue. The Romantics are suing Activision, Harmonix, and Red Octane over their song "What I like About You" in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s because -- and try not to laugh -- the cover of their song sounds too much like them! The Romantics want to halt the sale of the game (their lawyers use the fancy term "enjoin") and want accounting of all profits from the game, along with unspecified "compensatory and punitive" damages. That's totally tubular dude!

The suit alleges that the cover of their song used in the game is "virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version" and therefore would confuse the consumer. Ironically, if said consumer heard the song on the game and liked it, the version they would 99.9% be purchasing is The Romantics original version -- as cover artist "Wavegroup Sound" probably won't be found in the local HMV ~~or on iTunes~~. We don't know the real technicalities of an issue such as this, but we're pretty damn sure that all corporations involved in the production of the title made sure to get the license to use it. So, yeah, um, dear rhythm game developers, for fear of getting sued, please make sure all future covers you do for songs are really, really, bad.

Update: Heh, what do you know, Wavegroup's version is on iTunes. Now nobody will buy The Romantics version. Doomed, they're doomed we says. Mwahahahaha.

[Thanks, Qkthr]

Tags: activision, guitarhero, guitarherorockthe80s, harmonix, redoctane, theromantics

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dragod @ Nov 21st 2007 8:10PM

Isn't the point of covering a band to sound like them...?

People are buying their song instead of the cover? Can't have that...

Come on. People are retarded...

embassy @ Nov 21st 2007 8:10PM

how the hell could this possibly work?

unless they're trying to pull some BS "right of publicity" crap..thats the only way they *might* have any chance.

but im sure activision has a disclaimer on the box or in the game itself informing its consumers that specific tracks are indeed cover versions...if not..then the romantics may have a shot.

ToXic @ Nov 21st 2007 8:13PM

Shit, if I was working at McDonald's I'd want all the money I could scrounge up too...

J.R. @ Nov 21st 2007 8:18PM

If anything, The Romantics should be happy that their song was covered, due to the recent stories that songs featured in Guitar Hero see an increase in digital sales. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose.

CubeGuy @ Nov 21st 2007 9:00PM

I see what you did there. =P

Donald @ Nov 21st 2007 8:28PM

According to my GH-obsessed roommate who is playing the game in question as I type this, there's an extra solo added to the song and extra emphasis on the bass portion.

So this is what my British friends would like to call "bollocks".

Poisoned Al @ Nov 21st 2007 8:34PM

All I heard was "PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO US!!!!"

Diskoboy @ Nov 21st 2007 8:54PM

Nice hair. I hope it wins.

Fernando Rocker @ Nov 21st 2007 8:59PM

The Romantics sucks anyway...

CubeGuy @ Nov 21st 2007 9:01PM

Attention Duelists: My hair is suing for compensatory and punitive damages!

Blast Processing Megadrive @ Nov 21st 2007 11:13PM

Your hair isn't pointy enough to talk.

James Kochalka @ Nov 21st 2007 9:08PM

Obviously Activision licensed the song but not the recording. It's cheaper to license just the song and get someone other than the original artist to record it. By copying the original recording too closely, Activision might actually be infringing. It's an interesting case. Basically, they're saying that if Activision wanted it to sound exactly like them, they should have paid to license the original recording rather than just the song. Activision is trying to have their cake and eat it too, it seems.

CubeGuy @ Nov 21st 2007 9:18PM

I was under the impression that after GH2, Activision was trying to get a hold of all of the master tracks that they could. I think there's only a few songs in GH3 that are covers.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:44AM

Please don't talk about cake: it's very dangerous to mention it on the internets. You never know who's going to quote THE reference...

Paul S. @ Nov 21st 2007 9:29PM

Actually, rather ironically, the Wavegroup Guitar Hero covers just recently became available on iTunes, so someone could potentially purchase the GH cover rather than the original Romantics version.

Travis @ Nov 21st 2007 9:32PM

wait...are they suing FOR ALL THE GH 80's profits?

because... i totally bought that game for What I Like About You...

like serious shredding...

LMAO

I see where they are coming from, but it's equally a sad money grab.

Liquid @ Nov 21st 2007 9:43PM

Somebody call whine-one-one these guys need a wahmbulance.

Phi Nguyen @ Nov 21st 2007 9:44PM

Man, I hope they never go back to the crappy Incubus "Stellar" covers.

a @ Nov 21st 2007 9:45PM

This has been done before.. If you have a "sound" you own that for a piece of work. When ford wanted to hire Bette Middler to do a comercial in 1989, she declined. They hired one of her back up singers to sing like Bette. Bette was mad and sued the ad agency, Young & Rubicam, and won. You can sing the song but you can't sing it too close.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDD1339F931A25752C1A96F948260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/M/Midler,%20Bette

Freezer @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:44AM

I think, in that case, Midler won because Ford was trying to pass off the cover as the real thing. Guitar Hero's covers are clearly marked as such.

Abscissa @ Nov 23rd 2007 4:59PM

That's sounds like the issue of Hewy Lewis's I Want a New Drug vs. Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters Theme. I don't recall how that one turned out though. I *think* Ray Parker Jr. (defendant) won.

And then there was Olivia Newton John bitching about the Revolting Cocks cover of Physical. But that was sort of the opposite, she hated what they turned the song into. Don't remember how that one turned out either.

Either way though, I still think it's time for "The Romantics" to change their name to "The Whining Pussies".