The Infinity Ward lawsuit – the epic games industry lawsuit between Activision, EA and the founders of Call of Duty creator Infinity Ward – was meant to go to trial yesterday. It hasn’t…but it’s still rumbling on. In fact, it’s been pretty busy. I thought I’d summarise quickly some of those recent developments:
UPDATE: it seems the lawsuit is going ahead with a trial date of potentially late this year/early next year. I spoke to Develop about it here. We all know the story by now: back in 2009 Jason West and Vince Zampella, then the heads of Infinity Ward (the Activision-owned developer behind the Call of Duty: … Continue reading What happened to the Infinity Ward lawsuit?
Activision has obtained court permission to join EA to its lawsuit against former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella, according to Joystiq. You can read more about the recent steps in this increasingly bitter lawsuit here. What this latest development means is that, barring any other unforeseen developments, the trial will go ahead … Continue reading Activision joins EA to Infinity Ward lawsuit
UPDATE: apparently, West and Zampella have filed a response to Activision’s application to enlarge its lawsuit against them, basically complaining that Activision is trying to bankrupt them in the litigation. Ouch. Ofc, hopefully they have more substantive grounds for opposing Activision, but since irritatingly no one has published the court documents, I can’t check :/ … Continue reading More on the Infinity Ward lawsuit: EA to join the party?
More interesting details have emerged in the two lawsuits being brought against Activision over the Modern Warfare IP. To recap, the first lawsuit is by former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West over the circumstances in which they were sacked from the Activision-owned developer of the Modern Warfare series of games, and which … Continue reading More on the Activision/Infinity Ward lawsuit
38 former and current employees of Infinity Ward, the US developer behind the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, have sued Activision Blizzard claiming that they are owed between $75 million and $125 million in unpaid royalties and potentially more in compensatory damages, reports the LA Times. This lawsuit follows on from the lawsuit by former Infinity … Continue reading Former Activision employees join Infinity Ward exec lawsuit
NOTE: just to make clear – these are just the personal views of Gamer/Law. Also, we do not have any relationship with anyone involved in the litigation! Thanks. Rather belatedly, here are my thoughts on the latest developments in the Activision/Infinity Ward executives lawsuit. Background: A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about former Infinity Ward … Continue reading More thoughts on the Activision/Infinity Ward exec lawsuit
NOTE: this post seems to have received a deal of media interest, so just to make clear: these are just the personal views of Gamer/Law. Also, we do not have any relationship with anyone involved in the litigation! Thanks. Original post: Former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella have launched a lawsuit against … Continue reading Former Infinity Ward Execs Sue Activision
2nd UPDATE 03/03/10 at 14:02 More info here and here. The current position seems to be: Activision has confirmed that Zampello and West have left Infinity Ward. MCV reports that chief technology officer Steve Ackrich will replace the now departed West and Zampella as head of Infinity Ward on an interim basis. Sledgehammer Games, a … Continue reading Activision and Infinity Ward fall out, Mr Lawsuit beckons?
Way back on 2 January 2012, now lost in the mists of time, I made ten predictions for interactive entertainment law in 2012. How did I do?