A jury has smacked down a lawsuit by WWE legend Booker T Huffman against Activision where the pro wrestler argued a Call of Duty character was modeled after him.
Activision has won their copyright infringement suit against Booker T, with a jury finding the WWE Hall of Famer’s likeness wasn’t used for the Black Ops 4 character David ‘Prophet’ Wilkes.
According to a report by Games Industry, Huffman claimed that his pro wrestling persona and comic character G.I. Bro was used as a model for Wilkes.
The lawsuit was based on a poster of G.I. Bro holding a gun, which Huffman claimed was infringed upon by Activision when they created the character of Prophet.
Booker T argued that Prophet was based on G.I. Bro.However, in a bizarre twist, Activison were able to successfully argue that the G.I. Bro poster was actually copied from fellow wrestling sensation Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson from the neck down.
“The undisputed testimony shows that nothing about Plaintiff’s work from the neck down was original in comparison to the image of The Rock, and in fact, the bodies of the two works are strikingly similar,” court documents state.
Furthermore, they argued that Booker T didn’t “own the idea of an angry man with a scowling look” and that a copyright claim over a “facial expression” or “attitude” should be rejected.
Activision was able to win the lawsuit.Back in 2019, Huffman’s lawyer, Micah Dortch claimed that when both images were viewed side-by-side, there was “no question that this character was copied from G.I. Bro.”
“From the hair, body type and clothing, right down to facial expressions, the similarities are too profound to be an accident,” he added.
Booker T isn’t the first person in recent memory to accuse Activision of stealing their likeness. Back in February, writer and photographer Clayton Haugen claimed Activision committed copyright infringement with the Modern Warfare and Warzone Operator Mara.
The retired wrestler has yet to comment on the result of the lawsuit and it’s unclear what his next plan is following the jury’s decision.
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