Guitar Hero Gets To Rock On For Now

from the can't-shut-me-down dept

Last month we wrote about how the 80s rock band the Romantics was suing Activision for a version of its video game Guitar Hero. That game used a cover of a Romantics hit, which was properly licensed. However, the Romantics claimed that the cover was too good and too close to the original and wanted to be paid for a full performance license, rather than just for the cover. Otherwise, they wanted to halt sales of the game. Luckily, a judge has turned down their request for a summary judgment, noting that an injunction right before the holidays would have a profound impact on Activision's sales of the game. The judge also noted that the band did not "show a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the merits of the case." Apparently, the judge was less-than-impressed by the fact that the band's own lawyer admitted that this was "all about the money."

Filed Under: copyright, cover songs, guitar hero, romantics
Companies: activision