An indie developer has turned to GoFundMe to cover legal costs after becoming embroiled in a heated trademark dispute with Activision over the rights to the Warzone name.
You might be wondering how it came to this. Randy Ficker created and released the browser and mobile game Warzone back in 2017. Activision, of course, released the hugely popular battle royale Call Of Duty: Warzone in 2020. Ficker sent Activision a cease-and-desist last year, opposing the publisher's application for a trademark.
In the cease-and-desist letter (thanks, PC Gamer), Ficker wrote that Warzone.com, LLC, "would be within its rights to seek to enjoin Activision from using the WARZONE mark and to recover monetary relief as a result of Activision's infringing use". That didn't go down well with Activision. The publisher hit back with its own complaint stating that it's "entitled to a declaration that it has not infringed Defendant's alleged trademark and is entitled to have its pending trademark applications mature to registration."
Which brings us to Ficker's newly established GoFundMe page, designed to raise enough money to take on the goliath that is Activision. "Hello, my name is Randy, and I'm being sued by Activision for being an indie game developer." Ficker writes on his page. "The law is clear: If you use a name in commerce before someone else, they can't sue you to get rights for that name."
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Meanwhile, Activision argues that because Call Of Duty: Warzone isn't on browser, there's little chance anyone could ever mistake the battle royale with Ficker's game.
"Call of Duty: Warzone could not be more different from Defendant's game, a low-budget, niche virtual board game like Hasbro's Risk", said Activision's legal team. "It is inconceivable that any member of the public could confuse the two products or believe that they are affiliated with or related to each other."
Fickers believes that the existence of the two Warzone's has been causing confusion, however, He points to the Twitch category he put together for his Warzone, which is adorned with his game's logo at the top. Sure enough, it's usually filled with players streaming Call Of Duty: Warzone, rather than his game.
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"The regular streamers of my game are frustrated by this," Ficker explained, "but apparently it's inconceivable to Activision that this could happen."
On his GoFundMe, Ficker is promising that "100% of the funds raised will be directly used in the legal fight against Activision." At the time of writing, 457 people have donated $12,515 of his $50,000 goal.
Topics: Call of Duty: Warzone, GAMING, News, Activision