The creator of a character named “Cade Janus”, developed as part of a film, brings to court Activision, Infinity Ward and Major League Gaming, accusing them of going behind their backs and stealing the character to use it in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
How Torrentfreak report, Clayton Haugen claims to have created the character years ago and went on to work with streamer Alex Zedra to bring Janus to life.
Haugen’s lawsuit alleges that while trying to draw attention to his work by posting it on social media, Activision and some partners became aware of the character and actively worked to get him into the game, changing the his name by “Mara” and going as far as (directly from the presentation):
a. Cade Janus de Haugen photographs are used as guides to frame their own images and photographs
b. He hired the same talent he had put in for Cade Janus Photographs of Haugen
c. He asked the talent to ask Haugen for the same clothes and equipment he wore when he created the photographs Cade Janus
d. He hired the same makeup professional who prepared the talent for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs
e. He directed her to do talent makeup exactly as she had done for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs
f. He commissioned her to style the hair of her talent exactly as she had for Cade Janus de Haugen’s photographs, even with the same length of hair pieces, and then
g. He photographed and scanned the talent three-dimensionally using Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs as a guide.
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Haugen’s suit is also full of photos comparing her original photo shoot with Activision’s promotional material for Call of Duty with “Mara”
What elevates this from a “they stole my art” claim to a copyright infringement case claiming damages is that Haugen says he recorded copyright in his history in 2012-13 and his photographs in 2020.
It is seeking to “recover all monetary resources from the defendants’ infringement, including all benefits attributable to their infringements, ”along with recovering their legal costs and fees.