You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but apparently that
doesn’t apply to games.
THQ has sued Activision because Activision’s upcoming game,
SCORE International Baja 1000: The Official Game, sports similar box art to THQ’s
recently-released racing game Baja: Edge of Control.
The suit,
filed on October 23rd, claims the similarities infringe on THQ’s box
art copyrights and may hurt the company’s sales.
Images of the box art below:
First, THQ’s box art:
Then Activision’s:
The two covers are quite similar, which THQ states will “confuse,
cause mistake or deceive the public” into thinking the Activision game is
related in some way to the THQ game.
The startling thing is that a big company like Activision
released a cover that bears so much resemblance to THQ’s. Both companies are
well-known publishers, and aren’t money-grubbing patent trolls.
It’s hard to say, then, whether Activision was simply
unaware of the box art (unlikely), or if they simply figured it was different
enough and green lighted the cover.
In addition to a different cover, THQ seeks attorney’s fees.