Murderous military dictator Manuel Noriega can’t sue over his depiction as a bad guy in the blockbuster video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” a Los Angeles judge has ruled.
The dismissal came more than a week after former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani argued in court that the brief inclusion of the notorious former leader of Panama, now in jail for murder, in the 2012 game was protected due to Noriega’s status as a historical figure.
“This ruling is an important victory, and we thank the court for protecting free speech,” Guiliani said in a statement sent to the Daily News.
“This was an absurd lawsuit from the very beginning, and we’re gratified that in the end, a notorious criminal didn’t win,” he said.
“This is not just a win for the makers of ‘Call of Duty,’ but is a victory for works of art across the entertainment and publishing industries throughout the world.”
Noriega sued gaming giant Activision Blizzard in July claiming his “common law right of publicity” had been violated.
Giuliani quickly signed on to represent Activision and called the lawsuit a “moral outrage” when he argued the motion for dismissal two weeks ago.
“Noriega wasn’t just a celebrity like Paris Hilton,” Giuliani argued. “He was the dictator of Panama for (six) years. He was convicted in the United States for selling $20 million to $100 million worth of cocaine. He was convicted in France of laundering money, and he was convicted in Panama three times: for torture, beheading and for killing another man. He made himself a piece of our history.”
Giuliani said he too is a historical figure and has accepted the fact he must contend with unauthorized and sometimes unflattering portrayals on “Saturday Night Live” and in books and movies.
“If you think about it, your honor, if historical figures can recover for being mentioned in a book, a novel or video game, it will destroy – completely destroy – the genre of historical fiction,” he said in court earlier this month.
“Bin Laden’s heirs could sue for ‘Zero Dark Thirty,'” he suggested, referring to the Oscar-winning movie about the mission to capture and kill the 9/11 mastermind.
A lawyer for Noriega argued that his client deserved the same protection afforded to singer Gwen Stefani in a prior dispute with Activision.
The company settled with Stefani and her band No Doubt in 2012 after they sued claiming Activision went beyond a prior agreement and portrayed the band performing extra songs they didn’t clear.
Activision claimed Noriega’s case was different because he only appears in about six minutes of the six-hour “Black Ops II” game, wasn’t used in any marketing material and was not a musician with protected creative work.
“If creative rights have to be sacrificed, they shouldn’t be sacrificed for a person like Noriega, nor should anyone have to send millions of dollars down to a Panamanian jail because this mad man is making an absurd claim,” Giuliani said outside court in Los Angeles earlier this month.
