Activision attempting to seize unofficial ModernWarfare3.com

According to a report on domain-tracking blog Fusible, Activision is looking to seize ownership of ModernWarfare3.com after the unaffiliated website redirected visitors to official Battlefield 3 page.

For Activision to win ownership of the site, it would have to show that ModernWarfare3.com is "identical or confusingly similar to" its own trademarks related to the series, that the operator of the site has no legitimate interests for use of the domain name, and it was registered and used in bad faith. The complaint indicates the ModernWarfare3.com owner would be able to retain the name if "making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or tarnish the trademark."

However, Activision is arguing that ModernWarfare3.com ran ads for GameStop and Best Buy, making it a commercial venture, and that the forwarding to a direct competitor's website is sufficient to show the site was run in bad faith. At the moment, the site no longer directs to Battlefield 3's site, and appears to be free of advertising.

Here is a brief description of the game taken directly from the unofficial ModernWarfare3.Com website.

"Modern Warfare 3 is an copy and paste experience that looks exactly like Modern Warfare 2, retracing the conflicts of its predeccessor that will take you to major cities across the globe (including New York, London, and Paris) with the elite operatives of the US Delta Force and British SAS to combat Russian ultranationalists who have made it their mission to take back their homeland (yeah right?!?!). Modern Warfare 3 missions are in cool settings such as Wall Street in New York City, but utlimately the game fails to live up to its massive hype train. Activision should spend more time developing their games instead of using massive advertising campaigns to promote an inferior product.

A more satisfying gaming experience is found in Battlefield 3! Battlefield takes first person shooter realism and action to the next level with its next generation Frostbite 2 engine that delivers cutting edge graphics and game play like no other console shooter. Modern Warfare 3 runs on the same engine as previous COD games like BLOPs with arguably only a few minor enhancements. There is simply no way that Modern Warfare 3 can match Battlefield 3 in terms of technology so once again it will rely on gimmicks like rc car kill streaks to attract preteens to buy their product.

Battlefield 3 is taking first person shooters to the next level. So if you are strapped on cash, grow up and forgettabout Modern Warfare 3 (because it looks just like Modern Warfare 2) and buy Battlefield 3 instead. It features a mindblowing campaign and awesome multiplayer modes (free of newbtubing kids that buy COD) that will change your perspective on video games forever!"