Category — Employment Law Cases

Activision Settles with Two Former Guitar Hero Executives

April 2, 2007 at 3:13 pm - by Dale Dietrich

In February, Activision launched a new lawsuit against The Ant Commandos (TAC), Reverb Communications and three former Red Octane executives/employees: former executive producer John Tam, brand manager Corey Fong and hardware group member Jamie Yang. These former executives founded a new company with TAC - Loadstone Entertainment.

Activision has settled with John Tam and Corey Fong. The two have consented to a permanent injunction restraining the two from:

distributing a demo created by TAM incorporating elements of Guitar Hero II;
using or disclosing any Activision trade secrets;
taking steps to develop drum, guitar or synthesizer-based games for the next year;
“working on” a guitar controller for the XBox 360 version of Guitar Hero II for six months after release; and
competing against an undisclosed list of peripheral devices for six months after Activision commercially releases them.

The two were also ordered to return all materials relating to Activision’s proprietary information.

As far as I’m aware, no settlement has thus far been reached with Jamie Yang, Reverb or TAC.

Dale’s Comment [written April 26, 2007]: On a personal note, I was one of the lucky one’s to pick up Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 on launch day. The local Best Buy had about 100 of them on the morning of the launch. As I understand it, they sold out within hours and, to the date of this writing (owing partially to extreme demand and problems with some versions of the initially released guitar peripheral), I still can’t find them for sale anywhere in Toronto. I would like to purchase a second guitar peripheral. I’m having a blast with this game. As one of the commentators in a recent Joystiq Podcast pointed out, my fingers ache and want to stop playing long before the rest of me does!

Categories: Controller Cases, Copyright Cases, Employment Law Cases, Injunctions, Misc. Contract Cases, Non-Compete Cases, Settlements, Trade Secret Cases, Trademark Cases, Unfair Business Practice Casses

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Activision Sues Ant Commandos and Former Guitar Hero Executives

February 9, 2007 at 2:46 pm - by Dale Dietrich

In a new Guitar Hero related dispute, Activision (Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane’s parent company), has filed a fresh lawsuit against guitar peripheral maker The Ant Commando (TAC), Red Octane’s PR firm Reverb Communications and three former Red Octane executives/employees: former executive producer John Tam, brand manager Corey Fong and hardware group member Jamie Yang. The former executives founded a new company with TAC - Loadstone Entertainment.

The complaint alleges:

“copyright infringement, trademark infringement, misappropriating trade secrets and confidential information, breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, and more. “

GameSpot is reporting that Activision has already obtained a temporary restraining order against the defendants restraining them from:

distributing a demo created by TAM incorporating elements of Guitar Hero II;
using or disclosing any Activision trade secrets, including: music licensing contract terms, in-game advertising, sales figures, marketing plans, product designs, and possible future songs and artists to be featured;
developing a guitar controller for the XBox 360 version of Guitar Hero II for three months after release;
soliciting Activision employees, partners or Asia-based manufacturing partners; and
taking any steps to develop, market, manufacture, sell, or distribute any guitar or drum based video games.

As recently as December 27, 2006, Activision and Red Octane had settled a different dispute with TAC concerning the sale of unlicensed guitar peripherals. See here for details.

Sources: Gamasutra | GameSpot | Kotaku

Categories: Controller Cases, Copyright Cases, Employment Law Cases, Misc. Contract Cases, Non-Compete Cases, Trade Secret Cases, Trademark Cases, Unfair Business Practice Casses