Real players names could be used in new 2k football game

[xrams]

Quote: Originally Posted by metal134

But they do. As was already stated, aholbert32 is a lawer in such regards and has alreasy debnunked that and, while I don't have quite his qualifications, I have studied privacy laws as part of my news media degree adn I'm telling you, they do. It all depends on how the name is used. I think what you don't undertstand is this: I could make a generic football game and if I had some random linebacker on some random team named Tom Brady, I would be fine. Tom Brady couldn't sue me because I can say that no reasonable person would consider that to be the Patriots' Tom Brady. But if I have a quarterback named Tom Brady, designed to if not look, then at least play like the real Tom Brady, then I have used his likeness because while that player doesn't LOOK like Tom Brady, it represents him in such a fashion that most reasonable people would consider that to be the Patriots' Tom Brady.

as much as I dislike this situation... and would love to see 2K stick it to EA.... It comes down to intent.... it would be obvious to any reasonable individual/jury that 2Ksports use of (other wise) prominently recognized names.. was solely for financial gain... so a claim by 2K of coincidence would fail.... I mean it wouldn't be coincidence if 250 of these generic players just happened to have the same name as real NFL players.... that just wouldn't fly in a court of law...

and more to the point (as the admin stated)... it would be folly to blatantly give the NFL the finger in that way.... just the appeal process along wouldn't be worth the risk/reward factor....

[philliesfan980]

Quote: Originally Posted by xrams

as much as I dislike this situation... and would love to see 2K stick it to EA.... It comes down to intent.... it would be obvious to any reasonable individual/jury that 2Ksports use of (other wise) prominently recognized names.. was solely for financial gain... so a claim by 2K of coincidence would fail.... I mean it wouldn't be coincidence if 250 of these generic players just happened to have the same name as real NFL players.... that just wouldn't fly in a court of law... and more to the point (as the admin stated)... it would be folly to blatantly give the NFL the finger in that way.... just the appeal process along wouldn't be worth the risk/reward factor....

I think the whole key to the process would be how close the generic players are trying to mimic their real life NFL counterparts. I think that if they released a whole set of rosters with the game with guys like "Ronanavan WiMabb" it might be a problem. But if the teams in no way shape or form matched what they are like in real life, I don't see how EA/NFL would have a leg to stand on.

I guess the real question is would the NFL/EA come after sites like this which allow hosting of modded rosters. The whole game really fringes on modded rosters in my opinion. Also , another point to consider is I know there are tons of users here - but how many sales would be generated by OS alone? Maybe 10,000? I'm not sure if that would be enough to sustain the development costs.

[metal134]

Quote: Originally Posted by philliesfan980

I guess the real question is would the NFL/EA come after sites like this which allow hosting of modded rosters.

No because there is no profit being made. The whole key to use of likeness in regards to privacy laws is that you can't make money off their likeness. The whole point is that, for celebreties, thier likeness is a commodity off which they can make money off of and they can sue anyone making money off of their commodity. But if no money is being made, there is no case because there are no damages to be had,

[philliesfan980]

Quote: Originally Posted by metal134

No because there is no profit being made. The whole key to use of likeness in regards to privacy laws is that you can't make money off their likeness. The whole point is that, for celebreties, thier likeness is a commodity off which they can make money off of and they can sue anyone making money off of their commodity. But if no money is being made, there is no case because there are no damages to be had,

If you want to get technical - the ability to add real NFL players through a player editor will LOSE money for EA. With there being a viable alternative, there is no longer exclusivity that they paid so much for.

[TeeDogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Spectre

With the diligence of the roster editing community, I don't think this will be something we will be worried about. I expect a full roster set released within 1.5 days of release

this guy is right, so it realy doesnt matter, even if we dont get the logo and uniform editor, we will have rosters with the names, its a given.

[metal134]

Quote: Originally Posted by philliesfan980

If you want to get technical - the ability to add real NFL players through a player editor will LOSE money for EA. With there being a viable alternative, there is no longer exclusivity that they paid so much for.

Not really because 2K sports could easily argue that the inclusion of an editor isn't for the purpose of adding real NFL players. Their argument would be that the editor is just for general use and tghat if fans did so on their own, then so be it. Neither EA or the NFLPA would have a case.

[Sully]

Quote: Originally Posted by metal134

Not really because 2K sports could easily argue that the inclusion of an editor isn't for the purpose of adding real NFL players. Their argument would be that the editor is just for general use and tghat if fans did so on their own, then so be it. Neither EA or the NFLPA would have a case.

The NFL and EA won't go after 2k for releasing a game with a editor, but they will go after the sites that promote, and host files created with the editor.

[TeeDogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sully

The NFL and EA won't go after 2k for releasing a game with a editor, but they will go after the sites that promote, and host files created with the editor.

the site with the editor doesnt have to be the site with nfl logos on it. the users would learn where to find the pieces to the puzzle, the NFL wont go after sites that just have JPG's with nfl logos on it, they'd have to sue half the country. once a forum member has a cool file that has some nice custom uni's on it, it would get around pretty fast.

EDIT: hmmm your right , this site would NOT support that forum member, but the comunity would find these unscrupulous uniform makers.