Doubt v. Activision Publishing, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
2011
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 2 district · 10 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 1051 (§ 1 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act))
Relies on 2 Cal. 4th 1254 - Bank of the West v. Superior Court · 29 Cal. 4th 53 - Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause, Inc. · In Re Tobacco II Cases · 29 Cal. 4th 82 - Navellier v. Sletten · 37 Cal. 4th 1048 - Rusheen v. Cohen
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]t is the differences between Kirby and the instant case ... which are determinative. In Kirby, the pop singer was portrayed as an entirely new character — the space-age news reporter Ulala. In Band Hero, by contrast, no matter what else occurs in the game during the depiction of the No Doubt avatars, the avatars perform rock songs, the same activity by which the band achieved and maintains its fame. Moreover, the avatars perform those songs as literal recreations of the band members. That the avatars can be manipulated to perform at fanciful venues including outer space or to sing songs the real band would object to singing, or that the avatars appear in the context of a video-game that contains many other creative elements, does not transform the avatars into anything other than exact depictions of No Doubt’s members doing exactly what they do as celebrities.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“members of No Doubt participated in a full-day motion capture photography session at Activision’s studios so that the band members’ Band Hero avatars would accurately reflect their appearances, movements, and sounds. No Doubt then closely reviewed the motion capture photography and the details related to the appearance and features of their avatars to ensure the representations would meet with approval. The end results are avatars that closely match the appearance of each of the No Doubt band members.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[The developer] intentionally used ... literal reproductions so that players could choose to “be” the No Doubt rock stars. The game does not permit players to alter the No Doubt avatars in any respect; they remain at all times immutable images of the real celebrity musicians ....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.