Children of Angolan warlord sue Activision over CoD-BlOps II

[Syt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12138020/Call-of-Duty-game-depicts-our-father-as-barbarian-say-late-Angolan-warlords-sons.html

'Call of Duty game depicts our father as barbarian,' say late Angolan warlord's sons

Three children of Jonas Savimbi launch libel suit in France against the makers of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, demanding €1 million and for the game to be shelved

The children of the late Angolan rebel chief Jonas Savimbi are calling for hit video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II to be pulled and €1 million (£750,000) in damages because it depicts their father as a "barbarian brute".

In an unprecedented libel case in France, video game publisher Activision Blizzard is being sued for libel by three children of Savimbi – the founder and leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, Unita.

Savimbi led a decades-long, CIA-backed guerrilla insurgency against the Angolan government and its Communist-backed party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA. He was killed in battle against government forces in 2002.

Although feted as a freedom fighter by Ronald Reagan, Savimbi was a controversial figure. The civil war led to the deaths of 500,000 people with several million forced to flee their homes.

In the first campaign mission of Black Ops II, the player is tasked with helping Savimbi in a battle against MPLA forces. Savimbi is depicted leading his troops shouting "fight, my brothers" and wielding a grenade launcher. In one scene, he cuts a man's arm off.

Carole Enfert, the family's lawyer, said Savimbi is represented as a "barbarian brute - a big halfwit who wants to kill everybody". The lawsuit will argue that he was in fact a "political leader and strategist" and for his name to be "rehabilitated".

But the court in Nanterre, west of Paris, will be hard-pushed to accede to the first request on Wednesday as the game has already sold 250 million copies since its release in 2012.

France has famously strict laws on both defamation and a person's rights of publicity, namely the right to control the commercial use of their likeness.

French law permits a defamation case when it affects the deceased person's relatives on the grounds it causes them suffering or reflects upon their reputation.

The Savimbi lawyers hope this will set a legal precedent for future depictions of real people in video games. "This case concerns everyone: a video game can take your name, your face and cast into question your notoriety," said Ms Enfert.

Etienne Kowalski, a lawyer for Activision Blizzard, rejected the claim, stating that the game represents Savimbi as a "good guy" – and that he is portrayed fairly, "for who he was ... a character of Angolan history, a guerrilla chief who fought the MPLA".

He will also argue that the case has passed the three-month statute of limitation as the game came out four years ago, and will ask the court to uphold freedom of expression.

This is not the first time Activision has been threatened with legal action over the depiction of real people in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

In 2014, imprisoned Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega attempted to sue the company over his own appearance in the game. Activision brought in American lawyer Rudy Giuliani to defend the case and the suit was rejected by a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, under the first amendment right to free expression.

[Duque de Bragança]

I guess they are short on money lately. 
The Savimbi part on that un-game was the one reason I watched CoD videos. The un-game audience certainly got its cultural horizons broadened with the Savimbi part.

[The Minsky Moment]

Activision should move all its assets to NY state.  We don't enforce those crappy libel judgments.  Because freedom.

[derspiess]

Savimbi was a freedom fighter, not a warlord.

[Razgovory]

Activision should move all its assets to NY state.  We don't enforce those crappy libel judgments.  Because freedom.

How do the French have the authority to sue an American company?

[The Minsky Moment]

Activision should move all its assets to NY state.  We don't enforce those crappy libel judgments.  Because freedom.

How do the French have the authority to sue an American company?

I assume they still have a significant French presence.

[The Brain]

"Black Ops" is more controversial IMHO.

[lustindarkness]

I don't play the single player campaigns.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Rudy Giuliani represented Noriega's family.

[Eddie Teach]

Rudy Giuliani represented Noriega's family.

Weird, I thought he was a prosecutor.

[celedhring]

I know sod all about Angola, but I once met a Cuban veteran of the war, and he indeed thought that Savimbi was a bloodthirsty maniac - but he would be saying that, I guess. 

He thought going there was one of the biggest mistakes in his life, so he wasn't an ideologized moron, though.

[derspiess]

I know sod all about Angola, but I once met a Cuban veteran of the war, and he indeed thought that Savimbi was a bloodthirsty maniac - but he would be saying that, I guess. 

He thought going there was one of the biggest mistakes in his life, so he wasn't an ideologized moron, though.

Lots of Vietnam vets didn't like being in Vietnam, yet also disliked the enemy.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Rudy Giuliani represented Noriega's family.

Weird, I thought he was a prosecutor.

Oops. Other way around--he represented Activision.