[Blaidrug]

First it was Lindsay Lohan suing Rockstar games for "using her likeness without permission," now the former Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, is suing Activision Inc., and the development team Treyarch, over his likeness and name in COD: Black Ops 2.


http://kotaku.com/former-dictator-manuel-noriega-is-suing-over-call-of-du-1605845201

He's suing for defamation of character and loss of profits, to sum it up.
Legally, Noriega seems to have a bit of a case, as they openly and obviously used him in the game. His name, his face, his position, the whole shebang. But, as a political figure -- and criminal -- do videogame companies, media companies in general, need permission to use his likeness? We don't need permission from the white house to use the President's, or former POTAS', likenesses or names.

What do you guys think? Does he have the legal right, or even ability, to sue Activision for using his likeness and name?

At the moment, Noriega is in prison serving a 20-to-life sentence for various political crimes -- including the assassination of one of his political rivals.

[Zito]

I mean, to be honest, he does technically have rights. At the same time though, he is in fact a criminal himself, so he can't really blame them for using his likeness as a villain in a game. It could go either way in my opinion. I'm not really sure what to think of it.