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Axl Rose's Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit gets its day in court on Feb. 1

Axl Rose and lawyers defending Activision Blizzard had a preliminary hearing over the Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit, laying the groundwork for a potential court date in February 2013. For those playing catch-up, Axl Rose insinuates the game, which launched in late 2007, unlawfully associated Guns 'N Roses music with ex-GNR guitarist, Slash, whom Rose has been feuding with for years. Rose filed suit in November 2010.

The judge during the preliminary hearing wanted to toss out Axl Rose's claim of fraud because the statute of limitations has expired, says The Hollywood Reporter. The other half of Rose's suit claims breach-of-contract. During the hearing, Rose also shed some light on why he took three years to file a grievance: he was supposed to get his own video game.

"The reason I did not file a lawsuit is because Activision – through my managers and representatives – offered me a separate video game and other business proposals worth millions of dollars to resolve and settle my claims relating to GHIII," Roses said in his deposition. "From December 2007 through November 2010, Activision was offering me a Guns N' Roses dedicated video game, a game dedicated to music from the 'Chinese Democracy' album, and other proposals."

Activision argues that it licensed "Welcome to the Jungle" through GNR Music, the song's license holder, and that Rose "had no authority to enter into a license for 'Welcome to the Jungle' in his individual capacity because he does not own the song or the sound recording." While the judge has seemingly dismissed the claim of fraud, the breach-of-contract dispute is currently set for a February 1, 2013 court date.