In February 2019, professional wrestler Booker T. Huffman claimed that Call of Duty character David "Prophet" Wilkes was based on a character named GI Bro from his early career as a professional wrestler, He sued Activision. While there are certainly similarities - both are large, muscular men with dreadlocks, bandanas, and grim smiles - the jury found that the similarities were not enough to constitute infringement.

Huffman's attorney, Micah Dortch of the Potts Law Firm, said in a 2019 blog post that when the two are viewed side by side, "there is no doubt that this character was copied from GI Bro." The similarities are too deep to be coincidental, from the hair, to the body shape, to the clothing, to the facial expressions."

Activision argued that Huffman presented no evidence that Activision had access to the GI Bro poster in question or that it suffered any damages from the alleged infringement. It also argued that the "irrefutable testimony and evidence" provided by Huffman and the GI Bro creators showed that the image in question was not, in fact, the original work itself, but "a non-original copy of The Rock from the neck down."

"At most, the "facial expressions" and "attitudes" are claimed to be unique," Activision stated in its motion.

The jury agreed with Activision. The verdict form, available through Reuters, sums things up with a simple "no" answer to its first central question: did the defendant infringe the plaintiff's copyright in the GI Bro poster?

"We are satisfied with this result. In short, to call this a frivolous case is an understatement," said trial attorney E. Leon Carter of Carter Arnett, one of three law firms representing Activision in the matter, in a statement.

"Activision produces games with the utmost integrity and is extremely proud of everyone involved in the development and creative process of every game, including 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Today, the judges have validated that process.

And since it's Friday, here's a video of GI Bro and Diamond Dallas Page beating Mike Awesome over a table in an ambulance match back in May 2000.