Booker T Sues Activision Over ‘G.I. Bro’ Character Likeness
WWE Hall of Famer Booker t suing video game publisher Activision for allegedly using his alter-ego G.I. Joe in one of their video games, Black Ops 4.
The Verge reports that Booker filed a copyright complaint at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas which alleges that there are similarities between G.I. Joe and Black Ops character David “Prophet” Wilkes.
“They could have drawn him any way they wanted. But they chose to steal Booker T’s ‘G. I. Bro,’” the complaint states.
The complaint is mainly about the visual similarities between the characters. You can take a look at the image the complaint uses to compare the characters below:
“There is no doubt that Defendants copied “G. I. Bro,”” states the document.
The complaint gives further information about Booker T’s character. It states that G.I. Joe is a “retired special operations soldier, fighting an old enemy he thought he had finished off years before, with the support of his old military friends.” Artworks and a comic book has been made on the character.
However, the copied video game persona in question, Black Ops 4‘s David “Prophet” Wilkes doesn’t share much in personality or backstory to G.I. Joe.
The biography of Prophet goes something like this:
“Wilkes got his first set of cybernetic augmentations while serving in the British Engineering Corps. Five years and many upgrades later, he is the embodiment of the cutting edge of human weaponry on the battlefield, using his superior technology to disrupt opponents’ tactics before moving in for the kill.”
We will keep you updated as more developments in the case occur.
