TikTok Meme Creator's Threats to Sue Activision Over Its Use of His Content for Crash Bandicoot Ad: The Company Sues Him Instead

Urian B., Tech Times 27 July 2023, 12:07 am

A certain creator, Anthony Fantano, otherwise known as Needletok or The Needle Drop, has recently threatened that he would sue Activision over its users of his content in a recent ad for Crash Bandicoot. Because of this, Activision decided to sue him first, filing a lawsuit regarding his work and how it was also used by others.

Activision Sues TikToker for Threatening to Sue Them Over Use of Their Audio

According to the story by IGN, it was noted that the official complaint filing shows the lawsuit by Activision was regarding a TikTok made by Fantano. The particular TikTok at hand was titled "Slices Video" and was released in 2021 when it became viral.

Activision also points out that there were what they described as "hundreds of thousands" of TikTok users that reportedly used the audio coming from the video in their own TikTok. This was something they said that Fantano had even celebrated or boasted about in another video.

The Audio by Fantano was USed to Promote Crash Bandicoot Sneakers

The company also makes the claim that when it started to use the audio from Fantano on their TikTok to promote Crash Bandicoot sneakers, this was when Fantano released his threat. According to Fantano, he noted that this would be a "false endorsement" of the sneakers since it could mislead viewers into thinking that he had actually approved the sneakers.

He also noted that using the audio could also lead to misleading the viewers into thinking that he was connected to the sneakers. It was noted that this particular move would reportedly be in violation of the known 1946 Lanham Act.

Activision Said that They were Approached by Fantano and that He Demanded that the Company Pay a 'Substantial' Monetary Damage

Activision also noted that Fantano approached them and demanded that the company would pay a "substantial" monetary damage or he would end up suing them. Instead of taking down the clip, the company decided to sue him instead.

A detail being pointed out by Activision is that the audio from Fantano is still protected by the Terms of Service of TikTok. The terms clearly state that users can get all or a portion of the User Content that was generated by another user for them to make additional User Content.

Fantano Also Made the Audio Accessible Through TikTok's Library

The suit also highlighted that it was Fantano who decided to make the audio available on the platform's library deliberately for other people to see. Activision is now seeking a statement coming from the court regarding the case.

The expectation of the company is that the court would declare that they didn't violate the Lanham Act or that they had violated any publicity rights of Fantano. So far, Fantano has yet to respond to the issue.

According to Axios, the video has been liked by over 5 million times on the platform. The clip by Crash Bandicoot was reportedly uploaded in June but so far, it is no longer available online.