The estate of General George S. Patton has initiated a lawsuit against Maximum Family Games due to the game developer misappropriating the name and likeness of the General in their game History — Legends of War: Patton, in a case that is remarkably similar to those of Lindsay Lohan and Manuel Noriega.
CMG Worldwide, the rights holders of General Patton’s name and likeness, have said in their complaint that:
“Maximum’s conduct has damaged the value to CMG of General Patton’s name, image and likeness; has interfered with CMG’s ability to license General Patton’s name, image and likeness for use in other video games; and has damaged CMG’s ability to enforce its rights to General Patton’s name, image and likeness against third parties.”
The legal theory used by the estate is similar to the ones that Manuel Noriega and Lindsey Lohan used earlier this year against video game developers. The court in Noriega’s suit dismissed the case, noting the transformative nature of Noriega’s depiction and the historical context surrounding his depiction. Lohan’s case is still pending.
Despite overlap in legal theories between the Patton and Noriega cases, there are enough factual differences that the court could come out either way. The Noriega court did emphasize Noreiga’s prominent (and notorious) place among historical figures, but also reasoned that Noriega wasn’t a central feature in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which featured him in only 2 of the 11 missions. However, Patton is featured heavily throughout the game, wherein he is the primary character and namesake.
Speaking about this in their compaint, CMG Worldwide said:
“Consumers would readily understand that Maximum’s use of General Patton’s name, image and likeness in connection with the Infringing Video Game is a reference to General Patton. Indeed, Maximum expects and intends consumers to understand this as part of its marketing efforts.”