Crash Team Rumble – everyone’s suing everyone (Picture: Activision)
No sooner has one court case ended then Activision is embroiled in other, this one involve a TikTok star trying to sue them for a ‘six figure sum.’
Although the Microsoft vs. FTC court case was filled with unexpected revelations, and an industry-changing verdict, most other video game lawsuits are considerably less interesting. Although the new one Activision has become caught up in is certainly peculiar.
It started when TikTok user Anthony Fantano (aka NeedleTok, aka The Needle Drop) threatened to sue Activision for using an audio clip from one of his videos, in their own TikTok promotional video for Crash Bandicoot trainers.
They agreed to take their video down, without admitting any wrong doing, but then Fantano tried to sue them again for a ‘six figure sum’, to which Activision’s response was to then sue him.
The video in question already includes a clip from a different TikTok user and involves Fantano watching someone cutting up a pizza into smaller and smaller slices, before exclaiming ‘it’s enough slices.’
As thrilling as that sounds it became a meme and was sampled by many different people, with Activision claiming that TikTok itself has okayed its use.
Fantano argues that other companies have already paid him similar amounts for using the audio, but Activision is having none of it and has filed its lawsuit to establish that it is entitled to use the clip.
The trainers in question are long since forgotten but Fantano’s argument is that Activision using his sample implied that he endorsed them, which is the root of his legal argument.
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Since Activision owns Crash Bandicoot the franchise will come under Microsoft’s control if, as now seems certain, they complete their acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft has never addressed whether the series will become an Xbox exclusive or not, but that’s unlikely as the series is most popular on Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. So, like Call Of Duty, it’s likely to remain multiformat for the foreseeable future.
There’ll probably be more licensed trainers sooner or later too.
Those are some ugly shoes (Picture: Activision)
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No sooner has one court case ended than Activision is embroiled in another, with a TikTok star trying to sue them for a ‘six figure sum.’