Manuel Noriega sues Activision over portrayal in Call of Duty
Panama's former dictator is unhappy he's depicted as a kidnapper and murderer in Black Ops II
Manuel Noriega, the jailed former military dictator of Panama, is suing California-based video game maker Activision over a character in its best-selling title Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, lawyers for Noriega filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The 80-year-old is seeking lost profits and damages for the unauthorized use of his name and the depiction of the ex-dictator as "a kidnapper, murderer and enemy of the state."
The ex-military ruler is currently imprisoned in Panama for crimes committed during his dictatorship, including killing his political opponents.
Noriega's case is just the latest in a string of lawsuits over likenesses in video games.
Earlier this month, Lindsay Lohan filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games, the developer of the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto V. The Mean Girls star claims one of the game's characters – a buxom strawberry blonde named Lacey Jonas – is an unauthorized reference to her likeness and clothing.
In 2012, No Doubt and Gwen Stefani settled a three-year dispute with Acitivision for the way the band's image was used in Band Hero, a spinoff of the popular Guitar Hero franchise. With the current explosion of the video game industry, there's no doubt there will be more complaints over publicity rights in the new digital age.
With files from the Los Angeles Times