Lawsuit over similar box art covers

THQ filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard over a dispute involving the box art for their respective racing titles Baja: Edge of Control and SCORE International Baja 1000.

THQ's complaint, which was filed on October 23 in the US District Court of Central California, was first spotted by Patent Arcade. According to a copy of the suit obtained by GameSpot, THQ claims that the cover art for Activision Blizzard's upcoming SCORE International Baja 1000 too closely resembles that of Baja: Edge of Control. THQ says it has spent more than $1 million on marketing since the box shot was unveiled in June.

In the art for the THQ game (pictured top), two rally cars, one red the other blue, are shown in profile in the foreground careening through a desert landscape, with another car flipping forward and one more racing to catch up. A helicopter surveys the scene in the background. Activision's box art (pictured bottom) also shows two race cars in profile in the foreground, one red and the other silver with touches of blue. However, the similarities seem to end there, as the landscape is a canyon environment, and the two front-runners are trailed by a dirt bike.

link: www.gamespot.com/news/6200077.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;10

Baja: Edge of Control


Score International: Baja 1000


What do you guys think? I personally think they have a case, as I got confused when I was adding them to these new games to the database a while back.

But they are two different games just similar gameplay.

Derron, thats not the issue at hand. The issue is the box art. Two cars, red one if foreground, blue one flying thru air in background, Baja written in yellow at upwards slant. I think THQ has a strong arguement in this particular lawsuit, especially if they can prove they had their box art released to the public before Activision even started working on marketing for the Baja 1000 game.

The arguement is if people read about and see advertisement for Baja: Out of Control, with picture of the box art, they may grab the competitors game off the shelf by mistake next time they're in a store.

What are you kidding me the covers are completely different you would have to be an idiot to grab the wrong one.

You may have photographic memory, but most people do not. They will likely just remember 'Baja' something is the name, and the visual of two cars flying thru the air.

Obviously they are different and have different names, but similars do exist. Its like if someone made a game like the one shown below:



Yes, it may be completely different game, but the 'style' of the box art - in terms of using cartoony images arranged in mini-boxes, is a marketing style that should not be copied as it would result in a lawsuit from RockStar.

Yes I know that but the names are different.

Also there's one flaw in that explanation you just made why would Rockstar make a lawsuit if they made the game look at the bottom right-hand corner of the picture there is the Rockstar symbol meaning they made it.

thats a 'spoof', its not a real rockstar game ;)

I was trying to say if ANY company used a toony mini-box box art, even a completely different name, it would still be stealing Rockstar's marketing idea.

The Baja 1000 cover is more than just coincidence - with the blue & red cars, the writing done in similar style, etc... I guess its for the courts to decide, but me personally, looking at the two, it does appear that the people in charge of marketing the Baja 1000 saw the THQ game boxart ahead of time, and used it as an 'inspiration' for their design.

I know that it's a spoof but that's a bad example because some people might think it's real.

I know but that would be kinda stupid.

I still think it's not a problem.

I don't care what you think Grand Assault I still think the games are totally different.

I never said that.

It's one thing if the games were released at same time and maybe their design might have been a fluke in similarities. But fact that Baja 1000 is coming out several months after Baja: Edge of Control, and that the game is inferior (judging from comments and reviews from gaming sites), i think they have a very strong case to argue that Activision is trying to steal the marketing efforts THQ's game, and also that they are trying to fool the consumers into buying their product which may get some very poor reviews once its released.

Baja 1000 is due out any day now. I wonder if the motion to block its sale will go into effect quickly. :) should be fun to see how it plays out. Making them recall the game from all stores and re-print new boxes should teach them a good lesson.

They definitely have a case, its just skimming off their marketing otherwise. On an interesting side note, Warner Bros tried (and failed) to sue producers of the Bollywood film 'Hari Puttar' as it was too close to their 'Harry Potter' franchise....any thoughts on that?

That's a tough one. Judging on its cover, it doesnt appear to have ANYTHING whatsoever to do with Harry Potter, but the spelling (or more correctly, the pronunciation) of the Bollywood film's name is virtually identical. hmmm.. tough call on that on. Maybe courts didnt want a flood of lawsuits over similar sounding name spoofs, mostly in the porn industry ;)

Like this one, for example (proceed with caution): Shaving Ryan's Privates