It appears that half of Axl Rose's lawsuit against Activision will given the go-ahead by a California judge. While the judge indicated he would throw out Rose's claims of fraud, he may let his breach-of-contract claim remain for the trial to go forward next February. Rose claims he agreed to let "Welcome to the Jungle" be used in the music game, as long as it didn't feature any references to his former guitarist, Slash. Of course, Slash featured prominently in the game's marketing materials, even appearing on the cover.

Rose's fraud case was undermined by waiting so long to file the suit, though. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rose didn't file suit until more than three years after the game was released, outside the statute of limitations for such a complaint. For his part, Rose claims that he waited because Activision was promising Guns N' Roses dedicated game that it never delivered on. But the judge seems ready to strike the fraud claim on the statute of imitations alone.

In the breach of contract suit, Activision argues that it made an agreement with GNR Music -- the administer of the band's songs--and that Rose himself had "no authority" to set terms because he doesn't own the song or recordings. The judge did not reject that argument outright, but seems willing to let it be settled at trial next year.