Former Bengals all-star running back Tony Davis, on behalf of over 6,000 retired NFL players, have filed a suit against Electronic Arts over the use of their likenesses in Madden NFL 09.
According to the players, Madden didn't use "classic" players' actual names or numbers, but did swipe the actual stats of well-known players. According to the court filing:
"EA's commercial exploitation of retired NFL players is both blatant and prolific, as the 2009 version of the Madden NFL video game contained over 140 'historic teams' containing likenesses of thousands of retired NFL players. EA was fully aware of its use of the retired players' likenesses was without authorization and that a license was needed."
"The only significant detail that EA changes from the real-life retired NFL players is their jersey number. Despite EA's 'scrambling' of the retired NFL players' numbers, the games are designed so that consumers of the Madden NFL video game franchise will have no difficulty identifying who the 'historic' players are."
Madden 09 allows players to edit the names of classic players too, essentially giving you the right to re-create the actual names of classic players, should you choose to.
If you'd like, you can look at the suit, here.
Source: IGN
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Displaying 1–17 of 17
RelicCastle
Cry me a river,football players,you dont realise how good you have
skywalker18
Just be glad you are on a madden game. see it is reg nfl players that messes up for current & future hall of famers.
If one day everyone sued EA for some non BS then they would have serious problems.
largo2k221
EA tried to buy the right for the historic rosters but the players union said "NO" so EA had to go this way and by law they did nothing wrong by them making changes here and there.
For the people that are saying that the old pros were under paid may be true but they still made more then what regular people were making in those time periods.
Also one last thing the retired pros are in the middle of suing the players union and the NFL for health benefits and retirement plans for retired players (so I guess that its not going well for them to be suing EA).
Disturbedphenom
@titanrage83, first off, the NFL auctioned off the rights to the licsense. So if you wanna blame someone blame the NFL. 2nd COD releases a game once a year just like madden (same number of games this gen) and charges for DLC. NOW THAT IS BS.
You could also say that all your doin is payin $60 for new maps. Both games have about the same number of changes each year.
This is a BS lawsuit, as they didnt use their names and thats been done in many games for years.
titanrage83
YES! I hope this madden franchise get @%#^#$. I mean it serves them right for buying out the NFl. 2k sports was way better and they new it. that why they did that. 60 bucks for a roster update is bogus. and people complain about a 15 dollar map pack for COD. SHEEEEEEEEEET!
bretthoof
This suit is going to be very complicated.
True, the player's names and stuff wasn't used.
But just by playing as the "'76 Raiders", you're playing as the all those players who were on that team, whether they look like them or not.
Yet, you have to think of it like this.
If the players do win, those are a lot of people EA would have to pay.
We're not just talking about a couple guys on an old team. There is a span of players from like four decades ago.
And on top of that, who would you pay?
Just the superstars on the team? Or would lesser known players the offensive linemen also be payed? And what about the back ups on the team, would they be payed?
Also, if the NFL players do win the case, there could be an opening for players on College football players to file a suit for likeness claims, despite them not being actual professional players. And since many college players don't make it to the professional level, I'm sure the money would be musch appreciated.
And on that note, let's see what the outcome of suit will be..
Jroper
I say lets all hope and Pray that all these court cases will force EA to give up the NFL License exclusivity. I miss the old ESPN 2K NFL games...those where the days...
beastabubbles
All I have to say about this is: Who cares about the Bengals enough to pay attention to this?
chungnuts
Yessssssssss, reach deep into those pockets of EA. If the have enough money to buy NCAA rights and NFL rights, they can pay some retired players that are in their games too.
darklighter1
Who?
koolboricua
money is the rule of all evil, both parties are making and/or trying to make money. Last time i check EA does not make games they produced it, why not sue that maker? or madden himself for having his name on it and allowing this to happened?
sy_cred
They should just deal with it. They are celebrities and you know what you lost your privacy or image when you wanted to go were the spotlight is. As a celeb your identity no longer belongs to you but who owns you.
lowkevmic
You can't sue over likeness. Unless you can prove without a shadow of a doubt that you are in fact in the game, and have been placed in the game without your consent, then yes, you have a case. Bottom line he is fishing for a check, and I don't blame him. Bu twhat is about to happen is EA is gonna cut him a check over his likeness, and him being the out of work athlete that he is will take the check, and then all of this will disappear. By the time the game is released we won't even remember him, let alone use him all that often for the game. He's a former Bengals runningback for crying out loud!! Madden have been using players "likeness" for their classic teams since they first introduce the game mode itself. This is nothing new, and won't be the last time a NFL player will be waiting with their handout for their settlement check!!
JustTheBeginning
I know its not legal, buts its not something I would ever sue over. They did not use their name, they used their NFL stats. Im no lawyer but the NFL license probably includes the use of current and past NFL stats.
I do not care about the legal side of this, I just disrespect people who sue over something like this. People would kill to be in the NFL let alone be in a video game. Can't you just let things be, people today sue over EVERYTHING which is pathetic. Yes I know most average NFL players did not make a fortune back then, but do not think for one second they would choose a regular job over it.
Bring on the thumbs down!
TKEmysterio
Can we go one step further and stop the Madden games from being made? ...Seriously.
Papoche24
EA is F$%&ED!
JustTheBeginning
Ahh boo-hoo. Most people would kill to be famous enough to be in things like video games and these people are actually suing over it?
Sure, "technically" EA may be in the wrong. But these players made their career's by playing football and being idolized by millions of Americans. Americans made these people famous and paid their checks, the NFL would be nothing without the fans that supported it and thus these players would be nothing without us.
How is having their "likeness" in a game hurting any of them? Do you think these players would have not signed their NFL contracts and instead got a regular job if they knew their image would be used in stuff like video games making them even more famous?
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