Activision Being Sued For Copyright Infringement Over Call of Duty Character

Activision is being sued in a lawsuit that claims the publisher stole artwork and designs for a character used in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The legal filing, which was first reported by TorrentFreak, alleges that Activision copied a character known as Cade Janus from a short story written by the plaintiff, Clayton Haugen.

The author had previously hired streamer Alex Zedra for a photoshoot as part of an effort to shop the story to movie studios. Haugen claims that Activision later used the same model and even sourced the same make-up artist to scan her likeness directly into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The lawsuit claims the company did this to directly copy the design of Cade Janus from Haugen’s short story “November Renaissance” to create the character of Mara. This figure was then heavily featured in the game and promotional material.

The lawsuit has been filed in a Texas court and states that Haugen is looking to “recover all monetary remedies from Defendants’ infringement, including all of their profits attributable to their infringements, to the full extent permitted by 17 U.S.C. § 504.”

The plaintiff is asking for the case to be put to a jury.