Personally, I never really notice that these games were different and it looks like THQ has found out why. According to Patent Arcade, THQ has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard over trade dress and copyright, which means box-art in this case. The news site reports that the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard is about the upcoming game “SCORE International Baja 1000 The Official Game”. THQ alleges that the game from Activision Blizzard infringes the trade dress and copyrights in THQ’s game “Baja Edge of Control,” which was released in September 2008.

The file (linked below) states that Activision is trying to gain more sales by using the same box-art to confuse consumers that buy the game. Also, it says that Activision Blizzard must change the games box-art prior to it’s release, which is on October 28, 2008, but if Activision Blizzard wins nothing changes.

PDF – THQ Inc. v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. [Patent Arcade]