If you grew up in the 1990s and/or 2000s, you probably watched wrestling to some degree. If you did, then you have 100% heard of Booker T. One of the true wrestling talismans over that period, Booker T is now involved in a less typical scenario for a wrestler: He is suing Activision Blizzard for potentially millions of dollars.
Booker T, real name Booker Huffman, was a fan favorite wrestler during his days at WCW in the 1990s and WWE in the 2000s. In the 2020s though, he is a complainant in a major court case that sees the former pro wrestler take on video game publisher Activision Blizzard.
Booker T vs. Activision Blizzard Goes to Court
Booker T filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard back in 2019. In the official statement it was claimed that the publisher had used the likeness of G.I. Bro for the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 character David "Prophet" Wilkes. Clarification on the timeline and the copyright infringement itself can be found in the official case filing:
This is an action for copyright infringement. Booker T. created two comic books based on his character “G. I. Bro.” G.I Bro is a special operations action hero. Defendants published a series of multiplayer, first-person shooter games under the general title “Call of Duty.” In 2018, defendants released Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, a “prequel” to the prior videogame Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, one of the “specialist” characters was David “Prophet” Wilkes, who had replaced 90% of his body with “cybernetics” to enhance his fighting ability. For the “prequel,” Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Defendants chose to depict “Prophet” as he was before he remade himself. They could have drawn him any way they wanted. But they chose to steal Booker T.’s “G. I. Bro.
While the case has been active since 2019, it is just now that the court of Texas has permitted it to go into court. Jury selection will commence on April 19 and a court hearing should be scheduled for some time in late spring/early summer.
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