Activision not amused by ModernWarfare3.com redirecting to Battlefield 3 website, files complaint

By Adam Rosenberg July 17, 2011

call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

You might have seen some headlines last week about the ModernWarfare3.com URL, a nod to Activision‘s upcoming November release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The website has no official affiliation with the game and in fact serves as a platform for bashing the latest Infinity Ward-developed entry in the series. In a new twist, ModernWarfare3.com started redirecting web surfers to the official website for the game’s chief competitor this year, Battlefield 3. Activision, unsurprisingly, is not amused.

The publisher has filed a domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum, Fusible reports. The MW3.com site owner posted the complaint there after receiving it last week. The homepage is now topped with a message that reads “Warning: This website is under siege,” below which is an altered clip from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Activision contends that the current site owner has no right to the name, and no “legitimate interest” in the product that shares part of its name with the URL. The domain was registered in March 2009, well before the upcoming Call of Duty title was confirmed, but the publisher paints of picture of the first-person shooter series in its 11-page complaint, arguing that the brand had been established prior to the offending site’s registration.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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