General George S. Patton was one of America's great heroes of the Second World War. He died in December, 1945. You'd think both of those things combined would make it OK for him to star in a video game, but nope.
An upcoming strategy game, called Legends of War: Patton, has been sued by a firm representing estate of the deceased General, a company that as Gamasutra reports also polices the use of other historical figures such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe; Marlon Brando, Chuck Berry and Amelia Earhart.
You'd think that long-dead figures from popular history would be fair game, but it turns out there are limits that vary from state-to-state. Maximum Games, who are releasing (or trying to release) LoW: Patton, are based in California, where the law says such figures are fair game if they've been dead for 70 years.
Patton has been dead for 69 years.
Maybe the easiest thing for Maximum to do would be to delay the game until the 70 years are up. Which would make it one of the weirdest game delays on record.