{"id":1331,"date":"2016-02-11T15:42:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T20:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:17:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:17:09","slug":"call-of-dutys-lawyers-called-to-duty-in-french-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2016\/02\/call-of-dutys-lawyers-called-to-duty-in-french-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Call of Duty\u2019s Lawyers Called to Duty in French Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"game<\/a>According to the BBC<\/a>, the children of late Angolan rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, are suing the makers of Call of Duty in France for \u20ac1 million in damages for his \u201crather unfavorable\u201d depiction in the best-selling video game.\u00a0 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the video game at the heart of the suit, features a virtual Savimbi yelling phrases calling for the death of his rivals and rallying his troops to brutishly terrorize civilians.\u00a0 Savimbi\u2019s children argue that this is an entirely unrealistic depiction of their father while COD\u2019s makers argue that the game portrays the former rebel as a \u201cgood guy who comes to help the heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to his death in 2002, Savimbi was the head of the Unita movement in Angola and was at the forefront of the civil war against the Angolan government.\u00a0 Backed by the US and apartheid South African government, Savimbi raged a bloody war against Angola\u2019s ruling government which was supported by the Soviets and Cuba.\u00a0 The four-decade long conflict resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 people and while some hold Savimbi in high revere, others consider him a ruthless murderer.<\/p>\n

Call of Duty\u2019s legal department has faced similar conflicts over the game\u2019s representation of certain political leaders.\u00a0 In 2014, former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega claimed damages over his depiction in the game but a US court dismissed the charges.\u00a0 Now it is up to the French justice system to decide if damages are warranted.<\/p>\n

Loren Shokes is an Entertainment and Sports Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current second year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2017).<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the BBC, the children of late Angolan rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, are suing the makers of Call of Duty in France for \u20ac1 million in damages for his \u201crather unfavorable\u201d depiction in the best-selling video game.\u00a0 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the video game at the heart of the suit, features a 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