In 2019, Called modern armament war Activision Blizzard publisher introduced a new character to its game: an operator called Mara. A writer and photographer now claims that the company intentionally modeled Mara after his own character, Cade Janus, from a tale called November revival.
Plaintiff Clayton Haugen filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a Texas court on Tuesday, according to court documents published by Torrent Freak. He claimed that Activision Blizzard and developer Infinity Ward intentionally intended to model Mara after Cade Janus – including hiring the same model, Alex Zedra, to reproduce the photoshoot and scan her image for use in the game. Haugen said the developer posted his photos of Cade Janus on the wall of the photo studio during the Called modern armament war shoot.
Haugen said he originally hired Zedra in 2017 to model as Cade Janus before launching the story to movie studios. He later published photos on his website, on a calendar and on Instagram.
“In addition to hiring the same talent, they also hired the same makeup artist who prepared the talent for Cade Janus de Haugen Photographs,” the lawyers wrote in the complaint. “They instructed the makeup artist to prepare the talent exactly as she had done for Cade Janus de Haugen Photographs. They instructed her to style the talent’s hair exactly as she had done for Cade Janus de Haugen Photographs, even using the same hair extension. “
Haugen claims that Activision Blizzard and Infinity Ward demanded that the model and makeup artist sign non-disclosure agreements to “hide the planned violation”.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22279062/mara.jpg)
Image: Clayton Haugen / Activision Blizzard via complaint
The character Mara, alongside another character named Nikto, was added to the Call of Duty: Modern war in 2019. The character was available as part of the Called modern armament war first season battle pass, which was originally available for 1,000 COD points, or about $ 10. A number of skins are available for the character for additional COD points. One of them, the Kawaii cat skin, puts Mara in a military helmet with cat ears and unlocks a kitten amulet, called “Nyan Nyan”, which is hanging on her weapon. The package costs 2,400 COD points.
Neither Haugen nor Activision Blizzard responded to Polygon’s request for comment.
You can read a complete copy of the complaint below.