Lawyer didn't play enough Call of Duty before suing Call of Duty publisher, court decrees
A court has dismissed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard and Rockstar Games over alleged trademark infringement in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and argued that the plaintiff's lawyer clearly didn't play enough Call of Duty.
That's according to a report (opens in new tab) from legal firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which tipped off the gaming world to the litigation through Kotaku (opens in new tab). In November 2021, a company called Brooks Entertainment filed suit against Activision Blizzard and Rockstar Games, alleging that the two companies ripped off the likeness of Brooks Entertainment CEO Shon Brooks for the character of Sean Brooks in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
The lawsuit (opens in new tab) alleges that Brooks Entertainment "was talking to and provided a pitch to Blizzard, Activision and Rockstar Games, Inc. to create a game," and exchanged "many meetings and emails" with people like Rockstar president Sam Houser, as well as Activision Blizzard Mobile chief creative officer Gordon Hall (who passed away last year) and former Rockstar HR manager Sarah Shafer.
Brooks (the text of the lawsuit is unclear about whether it's referring to Shon Brooks, the individual, or Brooks Entertainment, the company) allegedly presented Activision Blizzard and Rockstar with pitches for two games.
One of those pitched games, titled Save One Bank, features a fictionalized version of Shon Brooks who "has missiles at disposal," "has unlimited resources," "navigates through both exotic and action-packed locations," and has "scripted game battle scenes take place in a high fashion couture shopping center mall," all of which are elements the lawsuit claims Activision and Rockstar ripped off for Call of Duty: Infinite
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