Activision is being accused of stealing a Call Of Duty Character and is in turn being sued.
The accusation comes from Clayton Haugen who filed a recent lawsuit in a Texas court .where it is said that Activision, Infinity Ward (IW), and Major League Gaming Corp (MLG) committed copyright infringement by copying and then passing off a character as their work.
Call Of Duty is a highly popular First-person shooter that was originally released in 2003 and since then has raked in millions for Developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision.
The character in question is “Cade Janus” and was developed as part of a film pitch. The creator Clayton Haugen claims that he created this character years ago and even went so far as to work with a streamer Alex Zedra to help bring “Cade Janus” to life.
Haugen says that while he was advertising his work on social media platforms, his character was seen by Activision and some of their partners and they then started to actively work on getting her into Call Of Duty. They then allegedly took the character and changed her name to Mara.
The lawsuit filing mentions specifically what Activision got up to step by step.
- Used Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs as guides for how to frame their own imaging and photographs
- Hired the same talent who had posed for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs
- Asked the talent to ask Haugen for the same clothing and gear that she wore when he created the Cade Janus Photographs
- Hired the same makeup professional who prepared the talent for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs
- Directed her to do the talent’s makeup exactly as she had for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs
- Directed her to style the talent’s hair exactly as she had for Haugen’s Cade Janus photographs, even using the same hairpiece extension, and then
- Photographed and three-dimensionally scanned the talent using Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs as a guide.
The lawsuit states that he is seeking to “recover all monetary remedies from Defendants’ infringement, including all of their profits attributable to their infringements”. He also wants to be reimbursed for all legal fees and other costs pertaining to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is extensive with accusations backed up by photographic evidence comparing Haugen’s original photoshoot with the promotional material Activision used for Call Of Duty.
This seems to be more than just a straight forward lawsuit trying to extort a major company, as Haugen’s claims include evidence for each claim, making his story pretty credible. Haugen also claims that he registered for copyrights for the story in 2012-2013 and for his photographs in 2020.
To see Clayton Haugen’s other work you can check out his Instagram page.
What will come of the lawsuit and has Activision learned from this, only time will tell.