Maker Humvee vehicles Sues Activision for Call of Duty games

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 11/09/2017 08:54 AM | source: | 25 comment(s)

The maker of Humvee military vehicles filed a lawsuit accusing Activision Blizzard Inc of reaping billions of dollars of revenue by incorporating its trademarks without permission in its flagship “Call of Duty” video game franchise.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday night in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, AM General LLC accused Activision of taking advantage of its goodwill and reputation in the “Humvee” and “HMMWV” marks by featuring them prominently in “Call of Duty,” and licensing related content for use in toys and books, reports Reuters:

“Humvee” and “HMMWV” are short for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. AM General said it has made more than 278,000 Humvees.

Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Activision, said on Wednesday that the company does not discuss pending litigation. Activision has said “Call of Duty” last year was the world’s largest video game console franchise, and North America’s largest for the eighth straight year.The franchise was launched in 2003, and sales had by 2016 topped 250 million units, with revenue exceeding $15 billion, according to the Santa Monica, California-based company.

But AM General said that success came “only at the expense of AM General and consumers who are deceived into believing that AM General licenses the games or is somehow connected with or involved in the creation of the games.”

AM General is owned by MacAndrews & Forbes Inc and Renco Group Inc, which are holding companies for the billionaires Ronald Perelman and Ira Rennert, respectively. The South Bend, Indiana-based company said it wants compensatory, punitive and triple damages from Activision, after more than a year of communication failed to end the dispute. Humvee-branded vehicles have been used for more than three decades by the U.S. military and in more than 50 countries, AM General said. In recent months, they have been used in armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to provide relief to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. AM General has also produced a civilian vehicle, the Hummer.

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mbk1969
Senior Member

Posts: 10297
Joined: 2013-01-17

#5491019 Posted on: 11/10/2017 10:47 AM

Very easy from dilettante point of view : pay that company and/or remove emblems from all vehicles in game.

Do we ever give a f@ck to emblems on vehicle models in FPS game?

whackjob73
Junior Member

Posts: 6
Joined: 2013-11-28

#5491068 Posted on: 11/10/2017 03:08 PM

All that free advertising for AM general and they still sue. And how many consumers do you think were "deceived" into believeing that AM Gen had anything to do with the creation of COD? What a crock. I say remove all Humvees from future installments of COD. I'm pretty sure some other manufacturer would love the free exposure COD would give them.

airbud7
Senior Member

Posts: 7835
Joined: 2011-07-20

#5491078 Posted on: 11/10/2017 03:23 PM

That's what I'm thinking to^....never bite the hand that helps feed you.

TheDeeGee
Senior Member

Posts: 6971
Joined: 2010-08-28

#5491178 Posted on: 11/10/2017 07:29 PM

What about the other 9485039485 War Games using Humvees?

BarryB
Senior Member

Posts: 1163
Joined: 2007-07-11

#5491217 Posted on: 11/10/2017 09:20 PM

So how many Humvees did the COD franchise actually help sell then?

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