In 2010 the Guns and Roses front man Axl Rose filed a lawsuit against Activision for fraud and breach of contract. He is claiming Activision misused his likeness, his previous band’s songs and marketing in the Guitar Hero games.
The charges of fraud were not carried on but the $20 million dollar lawsuit for breach of contract has been approved by a judge and will be going to court.
Axel’s lawsuit arose because (according to him) Activision ‘fraudulently induced him’ into authorizing the song ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ for use in the Guitar Hero game by convincing him it would not contain any reference to Slash. When the game was released there were many features of Slash, he was even a playable character. This aggravated Rose to no end, as he has had beef with Slash for years.
According to Rose’s attorney, frequent emails were being sent to Activision including their objection to Slash being in Guitar Hero III, but the emails were put aside and the game was released anyway.
Activision are arguing that Axl Rose, as an individual, has no actual right to the song ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, and therefore no breach his contract has been made because he has no authority over the song without the other band members.
Axl Rose is not the only person with issues against Activision, the band No Doubt are also unhappy with the publisher. In 2009 they filed a lawsuit claiming Activision had no right to allow the group’s in game avatars to be used to perform other artist’s songs. They also claimed that Activision hired actors to design dance moves for Band Hero that no member of No Doubt had ever performed. That lawsuit will go before the court in October this year.
The court proceedings for Rose’s lawsuit will most likely occur during February of next year.
Written By Ben Burgess
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