Activision Blizzard, Infinity Ward, and Major League Gaming Corp. are facing a copyright lawsuit pertaining to the popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Warcom operator, "Mara."
The lawsuit was filed in a Texas court by Clayton Haugen, a North Carolina-based writer and photographer, who alleges that Activision stole Mara's appearance from photographs of his fictional character "Cade Janus." The character of Janus features in Haugen's short story November Renaissance, with the photographs taken for marketing purposes as Haugen hoped to option the story to studios as a potential movie project.
Haugen alleges that Activison not only hired the same model - streamer and cosplayer Alex Zedra - to portray Modern Warfare's Mara, but also used the same make-up artist as Haugen, and attempted to source the same props used in Haugen's original shoot. Haugen claims that his photographs - which had been shared on social media - were a direct source for the development team and were pinned to the studio's walls.
Pictured below are comparison photos of "Cade Janus" and "Mara" as featured in the lawsuit.
