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The multimillion dollar lawsuit between Activision and Jason West and Vincent Zampella over the rights to Modern Warfare is set to go to trial, after a judge ruled against Activision.
As laid out in The Hollywood Reporter, A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge declared that there is sufficient evidence for the world’s biggest third-party publisher to answer claims in court that it allegedly defrauded the ex-Infinity Ward bosses out of royalty payments worth more than $125 million dollars.
West and Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision in March 2010, claiming that their wrongful termination was to deny them a massive royalty payout from the massive success of Modern Warfare 2.
Activision hit back with its own countersuit, claiming that the Call of Duty creators’ claims were “meritless” and that the duo were “self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision’s assets for their own personal gain.”
After an internal investigation, Activision accused executives at Electronic Arts of attempting to poach West and Zampella despite being under contract. Activision then bought in Electronic Arts as a co-defendant in their countersuit, where Activision is claiming $400 million dollars in damages.
This latest development follows a similar judgement in March that Activision has sufficient claim against Electronic Arts to take the legal dispute to trial.
The trial should now take place at either the end of 2011 or early 2012, provided there is no out-of-court settlement agreed on before then.
The 10/10 grabbing Modern Warfare 2 was VideoGamer.com’s Game of the Year 2009. You can find out why by reading our Modern Warfare 2 review.
