EA Denies NFL Lawsuit Rumors

[Valdarez]

Sad. Anything that frees up the NFL license so we can have competition in the market place is a good thing for gamers of both 2K Sports and EA.

[Netherscourge]

They don't have to be aware of legal action until they are served by the court.

[deaduck]

Just as a sub-point, once you acknowlege the usage of HOF players names being used...How in the hell do you determine value to the sales/value of the game?

Is it by a retroactive poll that asks if people that bought Madden did it because it had the HOF names in it?

And strange as that would be to figure out, wouldn't the players suit be agianst the NFL not EA since it was the NFL as part of it's HOF that gave inclusionary rights?

[joec63]

Exactly, the NFL is the party that gave permission to use the names. This is just a matter of including EA because they have deep pockets. Also there is a difference between filing a suit and winning a judgement.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Quote: Originally Posted by deaduck

Just as a sub-point, once you acknowlege the usage of HOF players names being used...How in the hell do you determine value to the sales/value of the game? Is it by a retroactive poll that asks if people that bought Madden did it because it had the HOF names in it? And strange as that would be to figure out, wouldn't the players suit be agianst the NFL not EA since it was the NFL as part of it's HOF that gave inclusionary rights?

They apparently didn't have any trouble establishing the $28M damages in the suit against the NFL. This one should be a slam dunk against EA & Madden, who have generated hundreds of millions if not billions in sales over the years.

[deaduck]

Not to say EA isn't about to be sued but I still find it amazing the vigor with which folks believe that EA is so "guilty" everytime a court case is mentioned.

It seems unlikely EA would have used the HOF content without the permission/urging of the NFL. Assigning blame is going to be a matter of establishing if EA paid the NFL more for such usage or if sales increased by said usage.

A legal quagmire I'd wager.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Quote: Originally Posted by deaduck

Not to say EA isn't about to be sued but I still find it amazing the vigor with which folks believe that EA is so "guilty" everytime a court case is mentioned. It seems unlikely EA would have used the HOF content without the permission/urging of the NFL. Assigning blame is going to be a matter of establishing if EA paid the NFL more for such usage or if sales increased by said usage. A legal quagmire I'd wager.

Didn't you follow the last suit...the one against the NFLPA? EA's name was all over the emails and other evidence used in that case. The only thing missing was EA itself. Like I said, this one should be a slam dunk.

[deaduck]

Quote: Originally Posted by GTheorenHobbes

Didn't you follow the last suit...the one against the NFLPA? EA's name was all over the emails and other evidence used in that case. The only thing missing was EA itself. Like I said, this one should be a slam dunk.

No, I didn't follow it but it doesn't follow any sound legal reasoning that you can expect a suit agianst a entity that had control of a property to equate to win over a dealing by that entity to a third party.

Think of it as a movie that get sued by the actors but naming a company that produced a toyline based on the movie at fault. You would have to prove the toy company knew of a legal reason not to make the toys to find them at fault for the deal between them and the studio.