Lawsuits have a habit of slapping Americans in the face, and the game industry is not exempt from such costly annoyances.  The U.S. District Court of California has been graced with another case of video game copyright infringement, now involving Activision and a New York resident by the name of James R. Strickland.

Court filings from late August say that Activision, publisher for Call of Duty, is suing Strickland for copyright infringement.  More specifically, Strickland is being accused of illegally copying and distributing various titles, though the case revolves mainly around Call of Duty 3 for the Xbox 360.  The complaint read:

Plaintiff is informed and believes that Defendant, without the permission or consent of Plaintiff, has copied the Copyrighted Video Game and distributed the Copyrighted Video Game to the public.

In doing so, Defendant has violated Plaintiff's exclusive rights of reproduction and distribution.

Activision claims the violations were "willful and intentional, in disregard of and indifference to [their] rights," and the company plans to "add additional acts of infringement" as the case progresses.  As it stands, they are seeking statutory damages between $30,000 to $150,000 for each offense and reimbursement of legal fees.

The lawsuit is being handled by Marc Mayer, a lawyer from the Los Angeles based Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp firm.  Mayer is currently keeping quiet, stating that he is not authorized to comment on the indictments.  Activision representatives have also declined to speak.