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Dark_Lord_Vader · 04-07-2005, 01:18 PM

Hey SF2kers!!

I have heard time and time again that Sega's new generic pro football game cannot have real player names in it. I don't understand why not because you cannot trademark a common name. An example:

Let's say that a guy named John Deere is on the Lions' roster. His team puts D-E-E-R-E on the back of his jersey. The John Deere company, with this line of thinking, could sue him for using their product name without permission?

See what I mean? Technically, EVERYONE could get sued because of their name because odds are, there is a registered trademark with your name in it. Let's say you have M-A-N-N-I-N-G on the back of the Indianapolis quarterback jersey. Couldn't Sega just say, 'Oh, that's not PEYTON Manning, his name is PETER Manning. It's a different guy so we are free from liability.'

What do you guys think?

04-07-2005, 01:18 PM	#1
Dark_Lord_Vader Banned OVR: 9 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Georgia (Heart in Colorado)	SF2k6: Real Player Names Hey SF2kers!! I have heard time and time again that Sega's new generic pro football game cannot have real player names in it. I don't understand why not because you cannot trademark a common name. An example: Let's say that a guy named John Deere is on the Lions' roster. His team puts D-E-E-R-E on the back of his jersey. The John Deere company, with this line of thinking, could sue him for using their product name without permission? See what I mean? Technically, EVERYONE could get sued because of their name because odds are, there is a registered trademark with your name in it. Let's say you have M-A-N-N-I-N-G on the back of the Indianapolis quarterback jersey. Couldn't Sega just say, 'Oh, that's not PEYTON Manning, his name is PETER Manning. It's a different guy so we are free from liability.' What do you guys think?