Double fine counter sues activision.

[zidine100]

Id just thought it would be an interesting read here.

he ongoing battle over the fate of Brütal Legend has taken a new twist as developer Double Fine Productions has counter-sued Activision, claiming the publishing giant is trying to kill the game to protect the Guitar Hero franchise from competition.

Despite apparently dropping the game in the wake of its acquisition of Vivendi, Activision launched a lawsuit against Double Fine in early June, claiming it had never given up its right to publish the game and that Double Fine's subsequent deal with Electronic Arts is invalid. Activision therefore wants the release of Brütal Legend halted, saying it will suffer irreparable harm if EA is allowed to publish the game.

But Double Fine is pushing back with a lawsuit of its own, claiming Activision's real goal "is not only to cancel Brütal Legend, but to kill it completely." The counter-suit alleges that Activision is attempting to hurt both the game and Double Fine Productions itself as part of a conspiracy to protect its Guitar Hero franchise from competition. In fact, Double Fine claims in the suit that Activision pulled the plug on the game after it tried and failed to convert Brütal Legend into a Guitar Hero sequel.

"Now that we've found a publisher and the game is getting sensational coverage, they want to stop its release," said Double Fine CEO Caroline Esmurdoc. "Double Fine's countersuit is a demonstration of our intention to fight for this game - Activision will not kill Brütal Legend."

Claiming that its very survival depends upon a successful release of Brütal Legend, Double Fine is seeking a judgment declaring that Activision did actually terminate its agreement with the developer and that it was free to sell the game to EA as a result. A hearing into Activision's original lawsuit, meanwhile, is scheduled for July 30.

www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93347-Br-tal-Legend-Dev-Counter-Sues-Activision

[CJB100]

dude omg lets offer ourselves as evidence towards double fine's case. lol. and the makers of piano hero too.

idk just a thought. we'd prolly just get in trouble with activision again.

[zidine100]

i dont see how we can help, theve already got the full force of EA on their side as it is.

the only thing i can see is that we can show that they are trying to defend there game (gh) (still on the topic of helping double fine) , which in law, was within there rights in the case of gz, still asholes, but legal, whereas in this case they already, acording to what ive heard Activission terminated the contract with double fine verbaly, and are now claiming that they didnt and they want to shut the game down for it.

in other words they wont listen to us were a seperate case CJB.

Mind you we could always employee the hate e-mail spam tactics.

on a more cheerfull note

image

It's a legal battle of game industry titans as Valve is suing Activision-Blizzard for money owed from a settlement in a 2002 lawsuit.

If you've been around the block or have a good memory for game industry legal catfights, you might remember that in 2002 Valve sued its then-publisher Sierra (owned by Vivendi Games) claiming a breach of contract (or Software Publishing Agreement to use the fancy term) and copyright infringement. The suit was settled in 2005 and Vivendi's license to publish Valve games was terminated. Some time after, Vivendi merged with Activision to become Activision-Blizzard.

Well, turns out the story isn't quite over, as Valve filed suit against Activision on April 28, claiming that the company has failed to make good on an agreement to pay Valve an amount decided upon by an arbitrator.

In the 2005 settlement, Activision agreed to submit a final royalty report to Valve, and the parties agreed that an arbitrator would handle the audit process, and that the arbitrator's decision would be "final and binding," says the Valve suit.

The arbitrator determined on April 6 this year that Activision owes Valve $2,391,932 including interest. Activision, however, challenged the decision, saying that Valve had been overpaid by $424,136 including interest. Valve alleges that Activision didn't bring up its claim in the process of arbitration, and, when it was brought up, the arbitrator "refused to consider it because it had not been submitted to the agreed upon audit and dispute process."

On April 20, Activision paid Valve $1,967,796, exactly $424,136 less than the amount determined by the arbitrator. Furthermore, Valve claims that Activision "represented" to them that they were not planning on paying the rest, and that if Valve made legal action to get it, they'd countersue.

Well, Valve's gone ahead and taken legal action. Will Activision make good on their alleged threat and bite back?

www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91366-Valve-Sues-Activision-Blizzard

[moonflow43]

i heard about when activision was suing them, glad to see double fine is standing up for themselves and counter suing