I Have A Feeling A Court Isn’t Going To Be Sympathetic To Manuel Noriega

Get this, Manuel Noriega is actually suing Activision over a character modelled on him in the ‘Call of Duty’ game. I’m not sure whether or not Noriega has some kind of likeness rights that a US court would recognize here that Activision violated, but I’m not feeling good about Noriega‘s chances. After all, Noriega hasn’t exactly had good luck with courts.

Think about it, Noriega was convicted by a US court on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. He was sentenced to 40 years, which was later reduced to 30, and then again to 17. After his release, he was eventually extradited to France where he was convicted by the 11th chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris and sentenced to seven years in jail. Before serving that time, he was extradited to Panama where he began serving the 20 years he’d been convicted of during his absence for crimes such as murder committed during his rule.

Bottom line: Noriega does not do well in court.

I’m not sure what Noriega expects to happen here, but I’m not thinking it’s going to go well for him. Even if he has some kind of right here that Activision has violated, I’m just thinking that a court might just want to stick it to Noriega anyway.