Singer’s $250 lawsuit against Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas maker fails

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   November 5th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

A Californian appeals court has denied Michael “Shagg” Washington’s claims regarding the unlawful use of his likeness in the popular Rockstar game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The supposed back-up singer for Cyprus Hill was unable to provide enough concrete evidence to the court that the main protagonist in the game Carl “CJ” Johnson was based on his looks and his life.

While Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came out in 2004, Washington sued Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, in 2010, for $250 million in damages, contending that the main protagonist was ripped from his likeness.

The singer told the court that he had met with the game developers in 2003 and shared details of his former life as a part of a gang and thus involved in various unlawful activities and dealing with numerous enemies both on and off the streets.

Washington claims to have also given the developers a photo of himself, which eventually made its way to the defendant’s case file.

As Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got released next year, it was seen that the CJ too was a black former gang member, who returns to his home city to find his mother murdered and the police accusing him of homicide.

Washington’s name appears in the game’s credits, acknowledging him as a model.

The court, however, denied his claims, ruling that Take-Take and Rockstar had not violated the publicity rights of the singer and that there was not enough evidence in his case to defeat the publisher’s First Amendment-based “transformative use” defence, which allows the use of existing materiel, including images, to be used for a new purpose as long as they are amended enough.

The supposed Cyprus Hill singer went for an appeal to put the verdict under review, but the Californian appellate court upheld the original decision, stating that no unlawful exploitation of the plaintiff could be observed in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

“Washington has presented no evidence demonstrating that the plot or characters of GTA: San Andreas have any relevance to his life or his purported fame,” a statement from the decision reads. “Plaintiff is relying entirely on CJ’s physical appearance in the game, but that appearance is so generic that it necessarily includes hundreds of other black males.”

This is not the first time that a lawsuit has been filed against a video game maker for exploiting publicity rights.

In 2010, singer Gwen Stefani had sued Activision for using her likeness in Band Hero and was successful in proving to the court that the exploitation of her image was not a transformative fair use.

Washington, however, was unable to do the same and thus ended up losing the case.

Cyprus Hill has denied having any association with Washington.