The huge gaming publisher Activision Blizzard is going to court in California. They want to get a cease and desist declaration. A developer says they have violated the rights to his brand “Warzone” with Call of Duty: Warzone. Activision Blizzard appears to be pretty snarky in court. They apparently see it as a lèse-majesté to be compared to such a game.
What kind of case is this? There is a browser game called “Warzone Idle”. The game clearly markets the parallels to the popular board game “Risk” by Hasbro.
The browser game launched in 2020. The operator of the game, someone named Fizzer, issued a cease and desist to Activision Blizzard in the same year, protesting that they in turn want to protect the brand “Warzone”:
- Activision Blizzard wanted to protect the brand “Warzone” in June 2020, as a downloadable video game and as an entertainment service.
- The developer Fizzer also wanted to protect the brand “Warzone”. He was 4 months later, his application came in October 2020.
- Fizzer says: “Activision’s claim to the brand already causes affected customers to confuse the two brands and be misled. And that will continue to happen.”
- In November 2020, Fizzer therefore sent a cease and desist to Activision Blizzard, noting that it was within his rights to prohibit Activision Blizzard from using the brand “WARZONE” and to seek financial compensation because Activision Blizzard violated his rights.
“Unimaginable that anyone could confuse the two games”
This is how Activision Blizzard reacts: They don’t seem to see that anyone could confuse their military shooter with the risk game.
They write to the court in a current filing:
Call of Duty Warzone could not be more different from the defendant’s game, a “low-budget, niche, virtual board game that resembles Hasbro’s Risk.”
It is inconceivable that any member of the public could confuse the two products or come to the idea that the two products are in any way related.
Activision Blizzard asks the court to determine that they have not violated Fizzer’s rights and that the rights to “Warzone” be granted to them.
Normally it is Activision Blizzard that issues cease and desist notices:
Activision orders popular stats page for CoD Warzone: “Shut down immediately”
