I'm a huge No Doubt fan so I'd love to be biased in their favour but as far as I can tell they've really shot themselves in the foot and gone all “Courtney Love” over it.

This very much depends on what the contract says, and also when No Doubt found out that their avatars could be used with non-No Doubt songs. If the contract doesn't stipulate that Activision have either unlimited rights to the usage of the avatars or rights to use those avatars for non-No Douibt songs, they are on legal thin ice; if it does, or it can be shown that No Doubt knew their avatars could be used with other songs prior to the completion of the game coding (or at any time significantly prior to their complaint being submitted), Activision are probably safe.

tbh, It seems unlikely that a contract drawn up in the US would risk being ambiguous about such an issue, so I suspect that this particular action won't be particularly long or drawn out…

scaryjim
tbh, It seems unlikely that a contract drawn up in the US would risk being ambiguous about such an issue, so I suspect that this particular action won't be particularly long or drawn out…

And I couldn't imagine Activision agreeing to a no-non-no-doubt-songs-avatar clause, either.

The full court document is a brilliant read, full of stuff like:

Answering Paragraph 22 of the Complaint, Activision states that it is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations whether Plaintiffs member’s are “avid fans” of the Rolling Stones

Really does sound like they shot themselves in the foot. Activision need to be careful though, start sueing the artists your games based on and there might not so many willing to contribute material next time round…

its like kids arguing, really sad.

Kids? Gwen Stefani's nearly 40, she's old to be my mother ;)

I missed out the “like” in there ;)

Knoxville
Kids? Gwen Stefani's nearly 40, she's old to be my mother ;)

I still would though

they shouldn't have spoke tbh

MadduckUK
they shouldn't have spoke tbh

no doubt about that.

They are just trying to muddy the waters I think. ND got a fair point that they weren't told first that they were going to be used as mannequins for other bands.

if they think that anyone gives two ****s about a computer generated version of them moving about on a tv screen to other peoples songs will harm their reputation or cause them any financial loss, then they need to line up and let the rest of the planet kick thier ****ing arse into gear

what is it with pop tards thinking the disposable music they are creating is a work of genius? it's no wonder people download the music for free cuz no-one has the slightest bit of respect for them anymore, and they only have thier commercial selves to blame

if they were so concerned about artistic integrity they shouldn't have signed up for a computer game in the first place, and prior to that they shouldn't have signed to a major commercial record label. having your own offshoot “fashion” label for clothing and perfume is just taking the piss

these games are killing music, the record companies are killing music, and this crap on the telly right now is killing music. we need a major revolution to turn things around, and make music an art not a business