User:Dbracciano/Intellectual property protection of video games

PUSH TOWARDS REALISM

As technology progresses, creator capabilities and consumer expectations trend toward more realistic demands for video games. More realistic gaming can increase the user experience, enhancing immersion and increasing emotional engagement. A problem can arise when games become too similar to the real world, imitating or copying real-life objects or scenarios. In 2020, a New York district court ruled that Activision did not violate trademark law by including a Humvee in its Call of Duty game. The court said the United States' First Amendment protected Activision's use of the Humvee. Further, the court, relying on Rogers v. Grimaldi [], rejected the trademark infringement claim, saying that because the trademark was used for artistic purposes and did not mislead customers, Activision was not infringing on the mark.

In a similar vein, the 2022 case Saber Interactive Inc. v. Oovee Ltd. also highlighted the tension between trademark protection and artistic expression in video games. In this instance, Saber Interactive held exclusive rights to depict the K-700 tractor in its game Mudrunner, yet Oovee used the same vehicle in its competing game, Spintires. The court found that video games are expressive works deserving of First Amendment protection and that Oovee’s use of the K-700 did not infringe on Saber’s trademarks. Applying the Rogers test, the court determined that Oovee’s depiction of the K-700 had no artistic relevance to Saber's and did not explicitly mislead consumers. These cases demonstrate that while realism is a valued aspect of immersive gaming, courts carefully consider the balance between artistic expression and trademark rights, often favoring the former when it serves a genuine creative purpose without misleading the public.