Character creator Cade Janus will take the American company to court, as well as Infinity Ward.
Accusations of plagiarism are the order of the day in the video game industry. If an independent study recently pointed out that Respawn Entertainment had allegedly copied the design of one of its characters for its new legend, Fuse, now it is Activision that is in the spotlight. In this case, it is one of the designs for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the title developed by Infinity Ward. The creator of a character named Cade Janus, developed for a film project, has decided to take legal action against Activision, the studio, and Major League Gaming.
The information is collected by Kotaku, although it comes from Torrentfreak. Clayton Haugen says he created the character years ago, to the point that he worked with Alex Zedra to make his idea come true, according to Haugen himself. The complaint, which has already been filed, points out that the creator of Cade Janus shared images of his design on social networks, at which time, always according to Haugen’s version, Activision and other partners became aware of its existence and they decided to transfer it to the video game, albeit changing the name to Mara.
Low resolution image of the original photoshoot.
The content of the claim
It accuses the parties of having relied on the photos of the designs, but also of having hired the same actress on which it was based. According to the document, the artist was told to ask Haugen what clothes the character wore during the shoot. She claims that they hired the same makeup professional and asked her to be made up the same way. Plus, he maintains, it was directed exactly the same as in the original photoshoot. Finally, it states that when making the 3D scan they took the original photographs as a reference.
The plaintiff seeks to recover all the benefits that are attributable to the alleged infractions, as well as recover the legal costs. At the moment, Activision has not commented on this.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released in 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
