Maroon 5’s Adam Levine set to sue Band Hero
Maroon 5 front man, Adam Levine is looking to take legal action against game manufacturers, Activision, for their unapproved portrayal of him in their game, Band Hero. The frontman claims that the company went on to exploit him in their game, Band Hero,
which came out in 2009.
The singer wishes to file a lawsuit against Activision because the company used his likeness and appearance, well beyond what was agreed in their contract.
When the singer was brought on board to take part in the game and share his image, he was recreated virtually to sing Maroon 5’s song ‘She will be loved’. However, the singer claims that he was not informed about the fact that his avatar would be singing
other songs, sung by other bands as well. This led to him feeling cheated and caused him to go forth with the legal action.
Lastly, one of the reasons that have made Levine want to push through with the case, is because he has confirmed that other artists in the game were asked, if they could be used to sing other bands songs, while he wasn’t. There are also unconfirmed rumours
floating around, which state that Levine is infuriated with Activision, since he found out that he was amongst the celebrities who were offered lower incentives to work with the game, when compared to others.
This isn’t the first incident involving Band Hero getting into hot water, over their use of celebrity Avatars in their game. In 2009, No doubt went on to file a similar case in 2009 over the use of Gwen Stefani’s avatar singing Rolling Stones classic, Honky
Tonk Woman.
According to the lawsuit, the feature “results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having s*x with prostitutes.”
In reply to No Doubt’s take on the matter, Activision went on to release a counter statement, “Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.”
Having already been caught in the same loop hole, Activision are sure to be pondering over their steps rather carefully, the company is going to look to avoid making any rash decisions.
This law suit is more than likely to have a number of side effects on Activision and the Band Hero franchise. With Levine making his case very public, it might be hard for the company to try and recruit celebrities to do voice over’s and share their image
for upcoming games, in the future.
Nonetheless, the way things are shaping up, Levine might just walk out on top, once the final verdict on the situation is presented.
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