14 DAY TRIAL // Axl Rose, the lead vocalist of Guns N'Roses, has launched a lawsuit against video game publisher Activision, aiming to recover no less than 20 million dollars, linked to the unauthorized use of the track “Welcome to the Jungle” from the discography of the band and its association with guitarist Slash, a former member of the band.
Axle Rose is accusing Activision that “Welcome to the Jungle” has been linked, in Guitar Hero III, with Slash and his new musical project Velvet Revolver.
When Rose has objected Activision promised it will not include the song and Slash' new band but it failed to respect those promises.
Court documents say that Activision as the game publisher, “began spinning a web of lies and deception to conceal its true intentions to not only feature Slash and prominently in GHIII, but also promote the game by emphasizing and reinforcing an association between Slash and Guns N' Roses and the band's song 'Welcome to the Jungle'”.
The documents that have been included in the lawsuit show a string of e-mail in which Activision assured Axl Rose that Velvet Revolver and Slash will not be included in Guitar Hero III, with Tim Riley, the vice president in charge of music at Activision, saying at one point, “Come on... you can't believe everything you read on the internet.”
The lead vocal of Guns N'Roses also claims that the top had image used on the game box art suggests Slash and that his presence violates the licensing terms that Activision convened with Rose.
After Guitar Hero III was launched Activision also offered to make up for the deception to the singer by creating a piece of downloadable content structured around his most recent album, “Chinese Democracy”.
Activision has not commented on the accusations and probably won't until the court case is done.