Ready for some litigious gaming news? Sure you are.
In part the first, we look towards vehicle manufacturer AM General and its 2017 lawsuit against Activision’s Call of Duty series for the accurate representation of the Humvee vehicle. Activision’s counter-argument was that the suit was “a direct attack on the First Amendment right to produce creative works that realistically depict contemporary warfare,” a point that a federal judge has agreed to in the dismissal of AMG’s case.
“If realism is an artistic goal, then the presence in modern warfare games of vehicles employed by actual militaries undoubtedly furthers that goal,” noted U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels in his decision. “The inclusions of Humvees in the foreground or background of various scenes[…]are integral elements of a video game because they communicate ideas through features distinctive to the medium.”
In part the second, publisher Tencent is taking a Chinese cloud service provider to court over the addition of online games like League of Legends, Dungeon Fighter Online, and CrossFire to its own cloud gaming service without permission. Tencent is also alleging the service is “unfair competition” and is stealing customers from its own cloud-based gaming platform. Tencent is seeking damages to the tune of $1.35 billion.
Video games, right?
