Activision countersues No Doubt, which is likely not feeling 'Hella Good'

by Griffin McElroy on Dec 9th 2009 3:30PM

Last month, the extremely certain pop-rock outfit No Doubt sued Activision for allowing their likenesses to be used in Band Hero, where players could perform the game's entire catalog of songs as the Stefani-fronted group. According to the complaint, this feature turned the band's appearance in the game into a "virtual karaoke circus act." Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter dug up a countersuit filed against the band by Activision, who claimed No Doubt was in breach of a contract between the two parties, and had reaped unjust enrichment as a result.

Activision's main response to No Doubt's claim is that that the band requested their likenesses be limited to perform the band's own songs in-game -- however, it made this request "only after the Band Hero programming was finalized." Activision seeks an unspecified amount of damages and interest from the band, as well as court and attorney fees, and a return of all payments dispersed to the band for their initial involvement. Jeez, Activision. Might as well go ahead and ask for the kitchen sink while you're at it.

[Via GamePolitics]

Source

Tags: activision, band-hero, court, law, lawsuit, Microsoft, music, Nintendo, no-doubt, rhythm, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (73)

Now if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo would countersue Eric..

Haha :D That would be awesome :D

As well all the gamers he pissed off. I want my money and time back Eric!!!

True. Having to hear about Erik's bullshit is causing ME emotional damages.

>:[ activision!!

Go Activision, get your money. fucking hated No Doubt anyway. fuck em.

No Doubt was awesome up until Rock Steady.
When that album came out, they started to suck and turned into the Gwen Stefani Band.

On semi-related news, I read recently that Sublime is going to get back together with that guy who sings that Beautiful Girl song taking Brad Nowell's place. I think his name is Rome or something.

Awesome until Tragic Kingdom. Trapped In A Box is still a classic single.

but brad nowell was sublime. it coulda just been him with an acoustic and it woulda been cool.

Why is it that all these artists failed to understand their likenesses would be used for songs other than their own? Was it in especially fine print at the bottom of the page or did they just simply sign away thinking “Sweet! We’re in a video game!”.

Probably a little of both...

From the sounds of things, Activision isn't being entirely clear as to how their likenesses are going to be used.

And what's funny is that they've changed their tune since the story first broke. First it was that No Doubt never made such a claim, now it's "the claim was too late into developement".

Hmm, wonder why it came late in developement...could it have been because they didn't find out it would be like that until after they saw that it had been included in the game?

It smells fishy on Activision's part.

I can see why they would assume that, pro athletes don't get used to be cheerleaders and peanut boys in sports games.

They play themselves.

It would be like selecting Tom Brady in Madden and having him perform like Bernie Kosar.

i would think it would be more like being tom brady on the patriots then switching him over to the browns. wait could this mean tom can sue ea for making him look bad in a game for playing with the browns? oh oh.. come on its a freaking game no one should be suing anyone.

A band is upset for having more face time?

I'd be pissed if some tool was using my face to sing Avril Lavigne

Yeah but its No Doubt. Anything you could make them sing besides their own stuff would be a huge improvement.

I'd be happy if anybody used my face.

@ gordo

I'd be pissed too if I was expecting to see Avril's face and instead I saw yours.

This is the difference between Activision and Harmonix. If Harmonix does something like this (Beatles Rock Band), they have the integrity to make sure the musicians and their relatives are happy with the game before it's released. Activision, probably having to rush Band Hero because they have to begin work on Band Hero 2, doesn't have time for this; time is money, and Activision loves money. Which is why they're suing the hand that feeds them. I'm not a No Doubt fan, but I hope they're exclusive to Rock Band after this, and that more bands follow suit.

I was on board with Activision until they said, "and a return of all payments dispersed to the band for their initial involvement."

It's one thing to sue them for breach of contract, it's another to sue them just to get your initial investment back AND continue to profit off of their (now free) work.

Wow...go Activision.

You know what, lets just give you an F for effort

Shit.

Uh, give me an F for this comment system.

No, no, I think your comment still applies here.

Frank: "I don't get it, Horatio. Why are all these bands so confused about this legal mumbo-jumbo?"

Horatio: "I'll tell you why, Frank.."

*Removes sunglasses from pocket and puts them on."

Horatio: "Because musicians and outdoor gear are the scape-goats of the homeless."
*Pulls out gun, inserts into mouth and blows his head off*

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

yeah... that's not quite how you do it. good try though!

TERRIBLE

I know it's SUPPOSED to be terrible.
Its the order of the day.

after googling the reference... CSI is dumb and David Caruso has little to no talent. =P

Because they weren't a karaoke circus act before

WIN!

I rarely ever say this and I'm sure I'm never going to say this again but, good for Activision. First it's Courtney Love with the whole KC thing and now it's No Doubt. They agree to do something and then back out, screw them. It's not Activisions fault they didn't fully understand what they were getting into. No Doubt should be pissed at their lawyers, not Activision, for not describing the full terms of their contract.

Cobain's appearance in a video game was atrocious and made me lose faith in everything just and equitable.

He's been rolling over in his grave ever since they turned into an action figure.

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. What they did with Kurt Cobain in GH5 was in really poor taste. I'm not nearly as offended by this, and they'll probably lose the suit, but I can see why they'd be angry.

@Luke: Whether the KC in GH5 was in bad taste or not, his image has been commercialized a lot longer than that. Like someone mentioned earlier, a KC action figure?! I didn't know such a thing existed. Courtney Love has been whoring his image out for a long time...

As far as No Doubt goes, if they do win this suit, then they need to get better lawyers to handle issues like this.

I hope we won't hear about bands suing anymore. It should be clear what being in a game would entail.

Also, a side note: Who else thinks we'll see artists suing because of other artists singing their songs in game?
"Taylor Swift singing my music? I THINK NOT!"

INSERT TIRED MEME

Taylor, i'm happy for you and all, but I think Gwen Stefani totally deserves to sing your music instead!

I think that's how it goes?

Kurt is dead. Long live Kurt.

People that are offended have no one to be offended at but Courtney Love. She's the one who licensed his likeness to Activision. More than that though, I doubt anybody posting here knew Kurt Cobain or his family personally, so why the intensity? It's a sad story, he and his band-mates were/are talented, but in the end he was just another human being. It's akin to the people who still believe Elvis is alive in terms of adoration, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

No Doubt trying to get out of Guitar Hero (or at least have their likenesses locked so they're only playable on their songs) gives a little more credibility to Love's statement that she had no idea that Kurt would be available for use on any song in the game. It sounds like Activision basically told the band they wanted them and their songs in the game, and the band said yes, with no specific terms of use discussed. I can't say that it was Activision's intent to pull the wool over the artists eyes, but it certainly sounds like it.

No Doubt refused to do promotions for the game. This will come down to the contract language, but it's pretty clear that ND breached. So if Activision played fair, the band is going to get the screws put to them.

After reading the contract, I would be very surprised if No Doubt won this case. The contract gives Activision full rights to use the approved characters in Band Hero. It does not limit the uses of those characters, so they had full reign to use them however they wanted.

The court will likely find that No Doubt breached the contract and Activision will be seeing some money.

Damn. Even though I really, really hate this kind of attention-seeking whining No Doubt is putting up, I'd rather have Activision getting screwed for a change.

Seems like a great way to encourage bands NOT to sign on for your game in the future. Burning bridges is fun, no?

Exactly what I was thinking.

You're a music game. You can't go suing the musicians! Even if No Doubt is mad, Activision suing back is only going to make other musicians weary of signing on with them.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's not as if Activision doesn't have heavy compitition. I guess this is one more artist we won't get DLC from, along with...all the good ones they're saving for GH6. But we'll get An Endless Sporadic...woo hoo.

not like it matters anyway, Activision knows the plastic instrument phase of gaming has already peaked. That's why they are pumping them out as quickly as possible while people still might purchase them.

Activision has ALWAYS been cocky about these games. Kotick has said at least once that he feels bands should be paying THEM to be included as a new form of advertisement.

It's not surprising to see Activision not caring about a couple bands here and there, because in the end there's about a billion other bands out there that'll be willing to take the abuse to be featured.

i hope this means Rock Band will get more No Doubt DLC.
i'd love to download Tragic Kingdom.

Go...Activision?

It's interesting to note that Activision cites the timeframe of when No Doubt asked for their likeliness to be restricted and not any kind of contractual stipulations (outside of not doing due dilligence to promote the game).

It's hard to believe that they wouldn't have something about the usage of the artist's likeliness in the contracts, but the fact that it's not even mentioned in the linked article about the counter-suing has me wondering if maybe that is the case.

The contract states: "Artists grants to Activision the non-exclusive, worldwide right and license to use the Licensed Property (including Artist's likeness as provided lay or approved by Artist ) solely in the one (1) Game far all gaming platforms and formats, on the packaging for the Game , and in advertising, marketing, promotion and PR materials far the Game."

No restrictions as to the use. In addition: "Actlvision shall not be required to submit for approval uses of previously approved assets, provided such uses fall within the rights granted herein." So as long as they got the avatars approved, they could make any use they wanted in Band Hero.

Ah right, so the right is in there. I guess it's all just a lack of foresight on the part of the musicians. At least all this Courtney Love/No Doubt mess will make future artists more aware of just what they're signing on to.

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Activision countersues No Doubt, which is likely not feeling 'Hella Good'

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