A court date has been set for the lawsuit that professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T is bringing against Activision over a character in Call of Duty Black Ops 4.
The multi-platform game was released 3rd August 2018, depicting a supporting character David ‘Prophet’ Wilkes having a striking resemblance to the G.I. Bro character from Booker’s comic book series and Booker’s wrestling alter-ego.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2019 against Activision Publishing, Inc., Activision Blizzard, Inc., and Major League Gaming Corp for modelling their character Prophet after G.I Bro, without the consent of Booker, listed on the lawsuit as Booker T. Huffman, or his management team.
The lawsuit filed before the United States District Court for Eastern Division of Texas insists that permission was never sought from Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard, Inc or any members associated with the game.
Booker has requested a jury trial and has stated he will accept whatever relief is granted by the court. Jury selection begins 19th April 2021 and will be overseen by Eastern District of Texas Judge Robert W. Schroeder III.
Booker claims the copyrighted material was stolen. And extract from the 9-page filing states “They could have drawn him any way they wanted. But they chose to steal Booker T.’s “G. I. Bro.”
The lawsuit also claims Booker’s copyrighted material continues to be infringed upon and that the first-person shooting game has made over $1 billion in profits since in release in October 2018.
Since the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Activision Blizzard have released numerous games with the most recent being, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Words by Ugbad Elmi
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