Two years ago, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose brought a $20 million lawsuit against Guitar Hero III maker Activision for the inclusion of his former bandmate Slash in the 2007 videogame. Rose claimed that his deal with the company to license the song "Welcome to the Jungle" for use in the game included a promise from Activision that no images of Slash would be used in the game.

On Friday, LA Superior Court Judge Charles Palmer threw out Rose's claims of fraud and misrepresentation, the San Marino Tribune reported. Palmer reasoned that Rose had waited too late to file the charges; Rose submitted his complaint three years after the release of Guitar Hero III.

As of 2011, Guitar Hero III had brought in over $830 million for Activision. The publisher announced that it was abandoning the series and canceling games in progress in early 2011.

Slash was all over Guitar Hero III: as a playable character, an opponent in a challenge mode and even in the center of the game's box art.

Rose was neither the first nor last artist to sue Activision over the Guitar Hero franchise. The Romantics sued the company in 2007 for a cover version of one of their songs that appeared in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. In 2009, Courtney Love announced that she planned to "sue the shit out of Activision" for its portrayal of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, in the game Guitar Hero 5, calling his appearance in the game "vile."

Later, both Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani's band No Doubt sued the company over their own portrayals in Band Hero, a Guitar Hero series spin-off.