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Madden NFL 17 News Post

Jim Brown Receives $600K Settlement Against EA

  06:06 PM - June 28, 2016 by RaychelSnr

It seems the likeness lawsuit settlements and final judgements continue to roll out against sport game makers -- the last announced today is Jim Brown receiving a $600,000 settlement from EA.

Check out the full press release:

Quote:
"Iconic running back and Hollywood actor Jim Brown has agreed to accept a voluntary judgment offered by Electronic Arts (EA) stemming from the use of his likeness in Madden NFL video games, according to Hagens Berman. EA will pay $600,000 in exchange for a dismissal and release of Brown’s claims.

Brown’s attorney Robert Carey praised the outcome, saying, “This recovery marks an important victory for plaintiffs in publicity-rights cases, and athletes in particular. Big business should think twice before it turns players’ hard-won identities and achievements into merchandise without permission or compensation.”

Brown concurred, “I took a stand for all athletes and laid a framework for future plaintiffs with my great legal team. Hopefully, this is a step forward in getting companies like Electronic Arts to recognize the value that athletes have in selling their products.”

EA’s best-selling Madden NFL football game allowed users to play as Brown’s team (the 1965 Cleveland Browns) and other historic franchises. Brown’s suit alleged that EA asked to use his likeness and that he expressly refused. EA nonetheless created an avatar in the game that mimicked Brown’s height, weight, skin color, experience, team, position and ability level.

The payment will exceed amounts EA has reportedly paid other athletes to appear not only in the game, but on the Madden NFL cover."

This is obviously just the latest of several lawsuits ongoing against EA for using likenesses within past sports games. The most famous of which was the Ed O'Bannon case which effectively ended the NCAA Football and Basketball series' from EA.

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Member Comments
# 41 Reed1417 @ 06/29/16 09:55 AM
A few have already said it but man some of these comments guys wow......EA used Brown's likeness without his permission! That's the issue here and he was in the right to do what he did. It's quite simple really. EA was in the wrong for doing what they did too but the venom for them from some people is crazy too. C'mon people....

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# 42 noplace @ 06/29/16 10:46 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk6663
Right and 600K ? What a victory !
I would think an extra 600k would be a victory for anyone..
 
# 43 StL_RamZ @ 06/29/16 12:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SportsGameGod
Spend my UT money wisely Jim!
 
# 44 dk6663 @ 06/29/16 01:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by noplace
I would think an extra 600k would be a victory for anyone..
Not for someone with a net worth of 50 Mil. Moral victory ?? Is his individual likeness only worth 600K ? He took the settlement because they probably knew they would get crushed in court. And EA just said here , go away. EA is a 3 Billion dollar company, what is 60K ?
 
# 45 Reed1417 @ 06/29/16 02:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk6663
Not for someone with a net worth of 50 Mil. Moral victory ?? Is his individual likeness only worth 600K ? He took the settlement because they probably knew they would get crushed in court. And EA just said here , go away. EA is a 3 Billion dollar company, what is 60K ?

What's your point man? Does it matter if it was 2K,or 5k or 1 million. What side do you stand on cause I can't figure it out. Help me understand your point of view.


Reed is comin' atcha!!
 
# 46 dk6663 @ 06/29/16 03:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reed1417
What's your point man? Does it matter if it was 2K,or 5k or 1 million. What side do you stand on cause I can't figure it out. Help me understand your point of view.


Reed is comin' atcha!!

My point of view is that it was petty. He is petty. Jim Brown is an egotistical maniac. Madden didn't sell X number of games because of his likeness. It would and will sell with or without him. You probably could have taken his height, weight, etc, and that been half a million people with the same stat line. I used the dollar figures just as a frame of reference to show just how petty it was. If not, why didn't they go to court? And really stick it to the Corp. Giant ? Not like he was on the cover and it was "Jim Brown Madden"
 
# 47 Reed1417 @ 06/29/16 03:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk6663
My point of view is that it was petty. He is petty. Jim Brown is an egotistical maniac. Madden didn't sell X number of games because of his likeness. It would and will sell with or without him. You probably could have taken his height, weight, etc, and that been half a million people with the same stat line. I used the dollar figures just as a frame of reference to show just how petty it was. If not, why didn't they go to court? And really stick it to the Corp. Giant ? Not like he was on the cover and it was "Jim Brown Madden"
The only thing I'm going to say is that i think your anger is misplaced. As I said before this isn't about Brown being "petty" or whatever word people throw around. EA used his likeness without his permission and that goes against a lot of rules plain and simple.

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# 48 redsox4evur @ 06/29/16 03:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk6663
Not for someone with a net worth of 50 Mil. Moral victory ?? Is his individual likeness only worth 600K ? He took the settlement because they probably knew they would get crushed in court. And EA just said here , go away. EA is a 3 Billion dollar company, what is 60K ?

Jim Brown is totally in the right here. And he would easily win this in court. There is precedent for him to win this case. So EA decided to settle because it would cost both of them less money in the long run.


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# 49 BezO @ 06/29/16 03:48 PM
I was about to respond similarly until I saw your post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big FN Deal
...Also you keep mentioning Brown settled because he must have known he would lose in court, either you are just ranting or you're serious, either way you should consider that this isn't some one off case, ea has been losing these types of suits in various courts.
To add on, it takes 2 sides to settle. Each side settled for similar reasons. They didn't want to spend the time or money to go further and agreed $600K was fair.
 
# 50 dk6663 @ 06/29/16 05:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reed1417
The only thing I'm going to say is that i think your anger is misplaced. As I said before this isn't about Brown being "petty" or whatever word people throw around. EA used his likeness without his permission and that goes against a lot of rules plain and simple.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
Reed1417, it was good dialogue. I see and understand your point as well and have since relaxed my view of the situation. NCAA is gone, and I just don't want Madden to end up in a vault someplace. I need my outlet !
 
# 51 redsox4evur @ 06/29/16 05:11 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk6663
Reed1417, it was good dialogue. I see and understand your point as well and have since relaxed my view of the situation. NCAA is gone, and I just don't want Madden to end up in a vault someplace. I need my outlet !

We aren't going to lose Madden. It's going to stay like it is. You won't see anymore legend teams just certain legend players that EA can get the approval for likenesses. The reason we lost NCAA was because EA would've had to pay every single college for ball player. So the two situations are like comparing a Granny Smith apple and a regular red apple. Yea the cases are similar but the impact on sports gaming is completely different.


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# 52 dk6663 @ 06/29/16 05:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by redsox4evur
We aren't going to lose Madden. It's going to stay like it is. You won't see anymore legend teams just certain legend players that EA can get the approval for likenesses. The reason we lost NCAA was because EA would've had to pay every single college for ball player. So the two situations are like comparing a Granny Smith apple and a regular red apple. Yea the cases are similar but the impact on sports gaming is completely different.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nicely put, thanks...
 
# 53 NDAlum @ 06/29/16 07:35 PM
I want to sue EA for not using my likeness in MVP Baseball 2005! How do they leave me off? That was my one chance to be in a video game and they put a generic guy as the 25th man.

Still mad about it obviously...
 
# 54 Toupal @ 06/29/16 09:53 PM
This makes me want to create a roster full of Jim Browns out of spite.
 
# 55 Sdrawkcab321 @ 06/30/16 12:05 AM
When did they use his likeness?
 
# 56 redsox4evur @ 06/30/16 12:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sdrawkcab321
When did they use his likeness?

Back in like '08 or so. Whenever they had the classic teams in the game.


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# 57 dk6663 @ 06/30/16 09:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by capa
Fortunately, there are still dozens of historic teams and hundreds of historic players in the roster download section thanks to the many talented roster editing guys on here like l8knight1, Johnecool, Playmakers, and Iteachpercussion among others. Now that the editing has opened up a bit, who knows what you'll see in 17...

You can use the 65 Browns and run Jim straight into Butkus if you wish!

C
Which in essence makes this settlement, moot. Yes I know and now somewhat agree with Mr. Brown's stance.
 
# 58 Cardot @ 06/30/16 10:34 AM
I remember playing NCAA back in the day.....and I mean WAAYYYY back..possibly as far as College Football USA 96. And like this case, they didn't have a name, but the Jersey number and ratings were obviously the actual player....and I thought "Can they do this?...huh..ok cool". In retrospect, probably would have been better had EA taken a safer route.
 
# 59 aholbert32 @ 06/30/16 10:40 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toupal
This makes me want to create a roster full of Jim Browns out of spite.
This is all so strange to me.

EA uses a player's likeness without permission or payment. The player sues and gets a settlement and people are mad at the player?

Huh?
 
# 60 redsox4evur @ 06/30/16 11:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardot
I remember playing NCAA back in the day.....and I mean WAAYYYY back..possibly as far as College Football USA 96. And like this case, they didn't have a name, but the Jersey number and ratings were obviously the actual player....and I thought "Can they do this?...huh..ok cool". In retrospect, probably would have been better had EA taken a safer route.

That's what they did. It was QB #7. But everything else: height, weight, handiness, hometown, etc. was all the same that's still using the player's likeness. Likeness extends beyond just name.


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