The producers of Humvees are suing Activision over Call of Duty video games that includes autos which, they are saying, look an terrible lot like their very own warcars. AM General declare that these Humvee-lookin’ autos violate their trademark and Activision don’t have permission, so they need CoD to knock it off and pay them damages. Their case pivots on a number of Call of Duty video games, together with Modern Warfare and Ghosts, that includes warcars which allegedly look shut sufficient to Humvees to fall beneath their ‘trade dress’ — a kind of mental property masking what a product seems to be like — and are typically known as Humvees by identify.
Humvees, I’ll clarify for folks with out an encyclopedic data of navy hardware, are navy autos which have been utilized by the US Army and others for 30-odd years. If you’ve seen modern-day US troopers driving a truck on TV, it’s in all probability a Humvee. Wide, flat issues. Like a wheeled tortoise carrying clunky spectacles. Here’s an image from Army Recognition:
As effectively as proudly owning the identify Humvee, AM General have trademarked what a Humvee bodily is. Their ‘trade dress’ covers the general form of the car in addition to specifics comparable to X designs (typically) on doorways, the place mirrors are mounted, the place particular headlights sit, and the place wipers wipers are hooked up – bits that, mixed, broadly seize what a Humvee seems to be like.
AM General have licensed the Humvee identify and commerce gown to video games earlier than, together with Homefront, however to not Call of Duty. AM declare that a lot of CoD video games embrace autos which look shut sufficient to Humvees to violate the commerce gown, and level out that a number of characters distinctly name them Humvees. AM are usually not finest happy with that.
They don’t just like the warcars showing in licensed Call of Duty toys both. And they’re not finest happy with precise real-world Humvees having been wearing CoD livery throughout advertising occasions. Nor do they like technique guides together with screenshots of these autos whereas utilizing the identify Humvee. They additionally dislike video games’ EULAs claiming mental property rights to the sport’s contents, together with these warcars AM assume fall beneath their commerce gown. And they’re miffed about such autos showing in advertising supplies, together with in the beginning of Modern Warfare 2’s launch trailer:
All this quantities to “clear and unmistakable intent to infringe AM General’s marks”, they declare.
AM General say their lawmen came upon about Call of Duty utilizing Humvee-lookin’ warcars in May 2016 and despatched a cease-and-desist letter to Activision in June 2016. AM and Activision have had a bit of back-and-forth since then with out decision, so AM have known as upon The Man to type this out. They’re in search of a jury trial, hoping Activision might be instructed to knock it off and pay damages.
Reuters reported this primary however, in case you’re curious, Jalopnik have a duplicate of the total grievance.
