No Doubt Lawsuit Against Band Hero Is Jury-Bound

If you're summoned to jury duty in the near future, it might not be all that bad. You might get to be the one deciding whether or not Activision violated the terms of its contract with the music group No Doubt in its largely unsuccessful attempt to compete against Rock Band. The publisher was unsuccessful at trying to quash the lawsuit on the grounds that No Doubt had no legal standing.

The band No Doubt agreed to let Activision use its likeness in the game, so players were able to unlock virtual avatars that looked like members of the band. However, the group didn't like the fact that players were able to use those characters when performing other songs. According to No Doubt, that was not stipulated in the contract.

But according to Activision, it didn't need to stipulate that. The legal question will be whether or not a reasonable group of people in No Doubt's position should have known how their likeness would be used. The idea that No Doubt legitimately assumed its avatar characters would only be able to perform No Doubt songs seems a bit unlikely, but nevertheless the band didn't like that its members could be used as "a virtual karaoke circus act," according to the lawsuit.