Activision Blizzard Sued Over Call of Duty Character Design
Photographer Claims Activision Blizzard Copied His Copyrighted Design
Activision Blizzard is reportedly getting sued over an operator they added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2019. The plaintiff is a writer and photographer named Clayton Haugen, who claims the Call of Duty character, Mara, is based on “Cade Janus”, a character he created and uploaded to his website and social media channels prior to Mara’s release.
According to court documents originally published by Torrent Freak, Haugen filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a Texas court on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
Haugen claims that Activision Blizzard, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer, Infinity Ward, intentionally modeled the character of Mara after his own original design –both of which even hired the same model, Alex Zedra for the basis of the character.