Kurt Cobain's Widow Threatening To Sue Guitar Hero 5

Since the release of Guitar Hero 5, there seems to be a rush of controversy brewing heavily from the usage of Kurt Cobain's image, that now has the widow of the legendary Nirvana frontman threatening to sue the makers of the game.

On her Twitter account, Courtney Love who also oversees the estate of Seattle late rocker, blasted an angry message in which she wrote, "For the record this Guitar Hero shit is breach of contract on a Bullys part and there will be a proper addressing of this and retraction." Then continued with, "WE are going to sue the shit out of [Activision] we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises."

What of the digital portrayal of Kurt Cobain in the recent release of Guitar Hero 5? That issue is one that comes with mixed feelings. You could certainly make the point that the artist's depiction in the game, in which he sings both "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium," can come off as a bit cheapish and a bit disrespectful in some regard. Again a subjective point that can be argued either way.

What is more important is whether Activision had the rights in order to use Kurt Cobain's likeness in Guitar Hero 5. The publisher soon after issued a comment to the website Kotaku that, "Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain'slikeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero 5."

This seems to go against what has been posted on Courtney Love's Twitter page last night, who appears to never to have intended that Kurt Cobain would be used in Guitar Hero 5, even after she had seen a preview of the avatar to be used.

As for now, no further comment by either party has been given. We will see and wait to how this issue will all turn out.

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