MARSHALL – A legendary former pro wrestler with Houston ties has filed a copyright lawsuit against a California-based video game company and a professional eSports organization headquartered in New York City, recent Marshall federal court records show.
Booker T. Huffman explains in his 9-page suit filed on Feb. 12 that Activision Blizzard, Inc.; one of its subsidiaries, Activision Publishing, Inc.; and Major League Gaming Corp. last year released a Call of Duty prequel video game in which one of the characters, David “Prophet” Wilkes, resembles the protagonist of his comic books, “G.I. Bro.”
“For the ‘prequel,’ Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the defendants chose to depict ‘Prophet’ as he was before he remade himself,” the original petition explains. “They could have drawn him any way they wanted. But they chose to steal Booker T.’s ‘G. I. Bro.’”
Huffman’s suit includes side by side images of his “G.I. Bro” and the respondent’s “Prophet.”
“There is no doubt that the defendants copied ‘G. I. Bro.,” court papers assert.
The Louisiana-born, Houston-raised Huffman, whose 30-year career included an array of WCW and WWE championships, began his comic book career in 2015, just a year before he retired from the ring. The “G.I. Bro” name is based on a taunt from an old enemy of the artwork’s hero, according to the suit.
Court documents state that the plaintiff has never authorized the respondents “to make copies of his G.I. Bro Works,” insisting he “has never personally had any contact” with them.
“These infringing activities have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of infringing copies of Booker T.’s G. I. Bro Works,” the complaint says.
Consequently, Huffman seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by Patrick Zummo of the Law Offices of Patrick Zummo in Houston and Timothy Micah Dortch of the Potts Law Firm, LLP in Dallas.
Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 2:19-CV-0050