No Doubt to go to court with gaming company over avatars

The motion to dismiss the band No Doubt’s lawsuit of gaming company Activision over the video game Band Hero has been rejected.

No Doubt first sued Activision in 2009, saying that they were never made aware that players would be able to unlock avatars of band performing songs from other artists. Gwen Stefani was particularly offended by seeing her avatar perform songs such as “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones.

The band’s lawyer is calling it “a virtual karaoke circus act,” according to GameIndustry.

The trial is expected to take place later this year. If No Doubt wins, they can instill potentially file for an injunction.

Activision is saying that unlocking special avatars is standard practice on the video game industry. They also claim to have a recorded conversation of No Doubt being told about the avatars.

Activision has also filed a lawsuit of their own, claiming that the band failed to do agreed upon promotional work for Band Hero, according to The Escapist.

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