Clayton Haugen, a photographer and writer, is suing Activision Blizzard for allegedly copying copyrighted material for Mara, a character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The character was introduced as the first downloadable character to Modern Warfare shortly after release as part of the game’s first big content update in 2019.
The model for both Haugen’s photos and Mara in Modern Warfare are the same person, Alex Zedra. The model is a well-known Instagram model with 1.2 million followers and has done shoots for products like Manscaped. She also streams Call of Duty on Twitch and proudly proclaims her likeness being lent to the character of Mara on social media.
Haughen claims that he used Zedra as his model for a character known as “Cade Janus”, a woman that is dressed in all kinds of military gear. The character was created to draw interest from movie studios and was posted on his website and social media pages. Haughen believes Activision Blizzard copied his protected images for Mara and even went as far as taking the same model, who also doubles as his makeup artist. As part of the suit, images comparing Mara and Haughen’s pictures were released (via TorrentFreak) and they do bear a striking similarity.
It is alleged that this wasn’t a simple mistake and was a deliberate attempt to copy Haughen’s work. “There should be no question that this was a planned, deliberate effort to duplicate the striking images created by Mr. Haugen,” said Micah Dortch of the Dallas office of the Potts Law Firm. “The evidence included in our filing clearly shows the similarities between the original images and the digitized character, as well as the actual use of Mr. Haugen’s images.”
Given Modern Warfare has been out for well over a year and Activision Blizzard has moved on to supporting Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, it seems like odd timing for Haughen to choose to take legal action against the publisher. Whether or not this lawsuit will hold any weight remains to be seen. Call of Duty is a military franchise so a character dressing up in body armor and cargo pants isn’t shocking but the use of the same model could mean this has grounds for legitimate action.
This isn’t the first time the studio has found itself in court for copyright infringement. Activision Blizzard was taken to court by WWE icon Booker T. who believed a Call of Duty: Black Ops character was too similar to his GI Bro character. That case has not been resolved yet, but a trial is scheduled for April.
