Activision sued over their COD character Mara; Suit claims she is based on Cade Janus

Activision is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over one of the characters 'Mara' in their game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The lawsuit is being brought on by writer and videographer Clayton Haugen. Haugen has alleged that the Call of Duty character in question, is based on Cade Janus, a character he created for his novel, November Resistance. 

According to Clayton Haugen, he is the one who originally came up with the idea of Cade Janus in 2017 with his novel. Cade Janus is the lead character in his novel, November Resistance. The novel describes her character as, "a female vigilante and pariah figure" who is caught up in corporate warfare of the future, with her actions being directed by "a non-human intelligence". Haugen said in the lawsuit that choosing a woman for the lead role "would distinguish it from an over-saturated market of action and science fiction movies."

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Haugen has been working on his novel since 2012 and has been hoping to his novel adapted into a full-length feature film. In developing concept art for the character Cade Janus, he put in a lot of efforts; from hiring a model(Alex Zedra), makeup crew, costumes and a camera team. He also says he registered these designs with the US copyright office. Haugen posted his concept art on a lot of websites and his social media including Instagram. 

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Activision Sued 

This is where the whole Activision issue comes up. Haugen claims that Activision used these photos he uploaded to model their character 'Mara' from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. He claims they did this without his express permission to use his designs or even without any accreditation to him. His lawsuit claims Activision hired the same model and makeup artist he used for his Cade Janus photoshoot, even going so far as claiming Activision posted photos of his designs in their studios to base their 'Mara' character on. It's unclear what evidence he has to base these allegations on, but hiring the same actor and makeup crew does not constitute copyright violation. 

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"The result was an animated character and a set of photographs that were intended to be, and were, copies of Haugen's Cade Janus Photographs," his lawsuit claims, "The 'Mara' character is a skilled female fighter like the character that Haugen described as 'Cade Janus' in his November Renaissance Works. The 'Mara' in-game character’s appearance is substantially similar to the female fighter depicted in Haugen's Cade Janus Photographs. The Defendants' game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare infringes Haugen's copyrights in his Cade Janus character and his Cade Janus Photographs."

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