POTTS LAW FIRM REPRESENTS PLAINTIFF IN “CALL OF DUTY” COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT
Activision, the Call of Duty (COD) video game producer, faces a copyright infringement suit by photographer Clayton Haugen. Haugen alleges that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare character Mara infringes on his copyright for a character named “Cade Janus”. The character is based on one he created in 2017 for November Renaissance. Which is a story that he hoped to build into a feature film.
In 2017, Haugen hired actress Alex Zedra for a series of photographs to use in his November Renaissance pitch to movie studios. He then published the copyrighted photos across the Internet and social media.
The lawsuit alleges that contractors for Activision discovered the photos and then tried to duplicate the look for a new female Call of Duty character. They not only hired Zedra for their photos, but they also used the same hair and makeup artists and used the same clothing from the original shoot. The lawsuit also states that Zedra and the makeup professional were required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements to hide the similarities.
“There should be no question that this was a planned, deliberate effort to duplicate the striking images created by Mr. Haugen,” said Micah Dortch of the Dallas office of the Potts Law Firm. “The evidence included in our filing clearly shows the similarities between the original images and the digitized character, as well as the actual use of Mr. Haugen’s images.”
Micah Dortch and Chris Lindstrom from the Potts Law Firm represent Mr. Haugen along with Houston attorney Patrick Zummo.
MORE COPYRIGHT TROUBLE FOR ACTIVISION
Activision has recently faced other copyright challenges. In 2019, The Potts Law Firm filed an infringement lawsuit against the company on behalf of WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. Huffman. That lawsuit, currently set for trial in April, claimed a “Call of Duty” character called “Prophet” was copied from the “G.I. Bro” character created by Mr. Huffman.
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