THQ sueing Activision over "Baja" box design

Claims its similarity will "confuse" and "deceive" customers

28 October 2008 18:03 GMT / By Verity Burns

THQ is sueing Activision Blizzard for allegedly copying box art in an attempt to confuse customers and ultimately, poach sales.

The company said that Activision's soon-to-be-released title SCORE International Baja 1000: The Official Game has a box design that looks too similar to its September release, Baja: Edge of Control.

The company's lawsuit reads: "Activision's impending use of packaging art [for its game] ... is likely to confuse, cause mistake or deceive the public into believing that the Activision Game originates or is sponsored or approved by THQ, when in fact it is not."

THQ says it has spent over $1 million on advertising, marketing and promoting of Baja: Edge of Control, and that both the front and back of Activision's rival title packaging is too alike to its copyrighted artwork.

The company wants the court to stop Activision being able to release its Baja game with the current artwork, or says it will suffer "as yet unknown" damages, making it "entitled to Activision's profits from the sale of the Activision Game."

THQ also says it had both written and spoken to Activision on "several occasions" to voice its concerns over the similar artwork, but that the defendant had refused to alter its packaging.

Neither companies have commented on the case at this time. Check out the images to compare the two covers, and see what you think