[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dark_Lord_Vader

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?

You would be opening yourself up to certain litigation, on a basis of violating their likeness rights.