AM General Sues Activision Over Call of Duty's Hummers

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

AM General Sues Activision Over Call of Duty's Hummers

This article was published by Joe Donaldson (@Joey D) on November 26th, 2017 in the Automotive News category.

 

[GTPVenomZombie]

Now this I did not expect to see!

 

[TetsuKobura]

Shouldn't this fall under parody laws? This could be bad if the case goes the wrong way.

 

[Northstar]

I’m kind of surprised this took so long to happen. Especially with the biggest culprit, Rockstar, making the resemblance more and more obvious in recent years.

On an unrelated note, apparently the parent company of AM General also owns Revlon.

 

[EliteBeast55]

They've been using Humvees/Hummers in video games of MULTIPLE genres (particularly Racing or FPS) for years, and they're just now taking action? What a joke.

 

[TenEightyOne]

They've been using Humvees/Hummers in video games of MULTIPLE genres (particularly Racing or FPS) for years, and they're just now taking action? What a joke.

Nope, they started action a year ago. The action ism't limited to in-game depictions, it's also related to spin-off products like toys and games which explicitly feature the HUMVEE and HMWWVV marks without the owner's permission. Why is it a joke for somebody to steal somebody else's property?

EDIT: Those marks are licensed by other games companies although I don't have a list. The Activision Blizzard action covers seven CoD games.

 

[moparmanmike]

Now this seems kinda petty dont it? I mean really, its a military vehicle in a military themed game. If i remember right its not like they made an extremely detailed copy of an actual am general hummvee. Nor is it the main basis of the game. Me and im sure literally everybody else just seen it as a generic military vehicle, and never really paid much attention to it. Thats like if chrysler went after every military game that had jeeps in it.

And its not just cod either. Battlefield, MoH, arma, and countless other war themed games all have them in them. And its never been an issue. Seems AM General is just trying to get a quick buck. I mean seriously didnt they go under like 20 years ago and were bought out by GM?

 

[Northstar]

Now this seems kinda petty dont it? I mean really, its a military vehicle in a military themed game. If i remember right its not like they made an extremely detailed copy of an actual am general hummvee. Nor is it the main basis of the game. Me and im sure literally everybody else just seen it as a generic military vehicle, and never really paid much attention to it. Thats like if chrysler went after every military game that had jeeps in it.

And its not just cod either. Battlefield, MoH, arma, and countless other war themed games all have them in them. And its never been an issue. Seems AM General is just trying to get a quick buck.

All those other games have either made a deal with AM General or have made enough changes to the design.

I mean seriously didnt they go under like 20 years ago and were bought out by GM?

That was just the rights to the civilian model.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Now this seems kinda petty dont it? I mean really, its a military vehicle in a military themed game.

The shape and mark are somebody's property. Why should they give it away for free to somebody who makes a lot of money from it?

If i remember right its not like they made an extremely detailed copy of an actual am general hummvee.

It has the name on it. That's a protected mark.

Me and im sure literally everybody else just seen it as a generic military vehicle

I didn't, so you're literally wrong. How did you even know which vehicle the action was talking about if you were sure it was so generic?

And its not just cod either. Battlefield, MoH, arma, and countless other war themed games all have them in them. And its never been an issue.

Do you have a list of which were unlicensed? Battlefield did win a "fair use" action on the Cobra, that could be a precedent in this case. However, they didn't go this far:

 

[Joey D]

And its not just cod either. Battlefield, MoH, arma, and countless other war themed games all have them in them. And its never been an issue. Seems AM General is just trying to get a quick buck. I mean seriously didnt they go under like 20 years ago and were bought out by GM?

Those games didn't try to make money off the vehicle though. CoD made toys with the HMMWV's image. I'm guessing if they'd left it with just the image in the game, they probably wouldn't have cared as much. But since Activision went past the game, an issue arose.

 

[TenEightyOne]

An interesting article from ages ago when the Ford Raptor became more-licensed than the Hummer. That's a clear implication that the Hummer is indeed being paid for by many of the people representing it in their products.

 

[KingFrog]

This is old news ( Gt planet is about a week late) but from my understanding, Activision is going to get hit hard. They use the actual marque and name of the vehicle. In simpler terms, this would be like rockstar putting in the Acura NSX into the game LABELED Acura NSX , badges and all, without paying Acura .

 

[DGXR]

I don't believe everything I read, so I will say... assuming the statement is true about AM General trying to resolve the dispute until communication "broke down" LOL... Activision has plenty of money to pay lawyers to help them avoid this exact type of issue.... then Activision deserves to be served its own ass on a platter. They really should know much better than this. I just hope this does not result in a price hike for software titles, i.e. I hope they don't pass the financial hit to the consumer.

 

[notsofast]

Anyone know which game the first pic in the article is from (with the Humvees crossing the portable bridge). Can’t remember that from an COD campaign

 

[Joey D]

Anyone know which game the first pic in the article is from (with the Humvees crossing the portable bridge). Can’t remember that from an COD campaign

I took it from the media set released for Modern Warfare 2

 

[TetsuKobura]

Anyone know which game the first pic in the article is from (with the Humvees crossing the portable bridge). Can’t remember that from an COD campaign

Modern Warfare 2. Classic game. The last good call of duty game in my opinion.

 

[TexRex]

CoD made toys

This is the bit I can't get over.

 

[LivingWithGames]

There IS CoD made toys. That, is the biggest sick joke I ever heard in my life. Worst, it's an actual thing. I can't even.

As for this taking action only now, I'm gonna laugh at Activision a lot more if they lose this. If AM General wins it, CoD will be a bit more of a joke than ever to take a hit like that.

 

[Wolfe]

Several games that use vehicles that are incredibly similar to a real-life counterpart and even if they lack the official name, it’s easy to tell what they are. The Grand Theft Auto series is famous for this.

I’m kind of surprised this took so long to happen. Especially with the biggest culprit, Rockstar, making the resemblance more and more obvious in recent years.

I'm not up to date on all of GTAV's mountain of DLC, but up to when I was last paying attention, the vehicles in the GTA games have never been close to representing real cars sans licensing. They offer enough of a likeness for you to get what they're supposed to be, but they're barely any more of a copy than your average Fiero kit replica.

 

[Northstar]

I'm not up to date on all of GTAV's mountain of DLC, but up to when I was last paying attention, the vehicles in the GTA games have never been close to representing real cars sans licensing. They offer enough of a likeness for you to get what they're supposed to be, but they're barely any more of a copy than your average Fiero kit replica.

Which is a hell of a lot closer than they used to be. The Pegassi Tempesta is probably close enough to the point where VAG could file a lawsuit if they wanted to.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I'm not up to date on all of GTAV's mountain of DLC, but up to when I was last paying attention, the vehicles in the GTA games have never been close to representing real cars sans licensing. They offer enough of a likeness for you to get what they're supposed to be, but they're barely any more of a copy than your average Fiero kit replica.

They have been getting steadily more and more similar to real life counterparts. In the past it was always a little bit of this car, a little bit of that car. Now with cars like the Progen GP1, it's about 90% similar to the vehicle it is portraying. I doubt Rockstar is in peril yet, but it's hard to ignore the enormous profits they are making from peddling ever more similar DLC cars.

 

[notsofast]

I took it from the media set released for Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2. Classic game. The last good call of duty game in my opinion.

Thanks guys. Seeing that pic made me want to play the game again but its not on XB1 so will have to 'settle'for Modern Warfare

 

[KingFrog]

This is the bit I can't get over.

Toys aren't just for children, people collect them. I assume you think video games are for children too after all, consoles and games are just fancy electronic toys. We have an entire Hotwheels forum on GTP .

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

Toys aren't just for children, people collect them. I assume you think video games are for children too after all, consoles and games are just fancy electronic toys. We have an entire Hotwheels forum on GTP .

It's the fact that these toys in particular are based on an M rated game about warfare, yet aren't explicitly aimed at collectors or older people. I've seen a few of these sets and they're still advertised for ages 6 and up. I think that's the point he was making.

 

[KingFrog]

It's the fact that these toys in particular are based on an M rated game about warfare, yet aren't explicitly aimed at collectors or older people. I've seen a few of these sets and they're still advertised for ages 6 and up. I think that's the point he was making.

The toys age rating is in regards to the safety.