Manuel Noriega's Lawsuit Against Santa Monica Video Game Maker an 'Attack on Free Speech,' Rudy Giuliani Says

Calling Manuel Noriega’s lawsuit against a Santa Monica video game maker an “attack on free speech,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- now a private attorney -- said today he asked a Los Angeles judge to dismiss the legal action.
Giuliani, who is representing Activision Blizzard Inc., said during a telephone news conference that video games are entitled to the same protection as books and movies.
The former Panamanian strongman sued the company over use of his likeness in the video game “Call of Duty Black Ops II.”
Allowing Noriega to prevail in such a lawsuit would “open the floodgates” for relatives of numerous historical figures, “infamous and otherwise,” to file similar cases, Giuliani said.
Giuliani said that as an example, relatives of Osama bid Laden could be motivated to file a similar case over the depiction of the slain terrorist in the film “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Giuliani also said that Noriega made himself a public figure through his own actions and is not someone who was unintentionally thrust into the spotlight. Noriega was toppled in 1989 by a U.S. invasion and served a 17-year drug trafficking sentence in the United States. He later was convicted in France of money laundering, and that country repatriated him to Panama in December 2011. Noriega, 80, is serving a 60-year sentence in Panama for murder, embezzlement and corruption.
“I am outraged that a man who was a notorious dictator in prison for drug dealing, murder and torture is upset about being portrayed as a criminal,” the 70-year-old Giuliani said. “Quite simply, that’s absurd.”
Noriega is only featured in a small portion of the video and is not even advertised as a featured player in the game, Giuliani said.
About 40 million people have played the game and it is made by a company that has donated millions of dollars to veterans’ causes, Giuliani said.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeleson Noriega’s behalf July 15. The suit alleges Noriega’s likeness was used without his permission in the 2012 game and that he was falsely portrayed as a “kidnapper, murderer and enemy of the state.”
--City News Service