EA Salt

[6souls]

9th Circuit denies EA Sports' appeal

Electronic Arts lost an appeal Wednesday in a case over its college football video game when a federal court dismissed arguments the company had made in hopes of justifying its use of an athlete's likeness without permission.

The appellate court affirmed a decision of a U.S. District Court that EA Sports could not use a First Amendment defense to protect it against the rights of publicity claims filed by former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller.

A panel of judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California voted 2-1 that EA was not protected by free speech because the company created the the likeness of Keller "in the very setting in which he has achieved renown."

"Given that NCAA football realistically portrays college football players in the context of college football games, the district court was correct in concluding that EA cannot prevail," Judge Jay S. Bybee wrote in the decision.

Keller argued that EA violated his rights of publicity by using his likeness, and the likeness of others, in its NCAA college football games without approval.

Rob Carey, the attorney for Keller and other former players who joined him in the lawsuit, told Tom Farrey of "Outside the Lines" that his legal team now plans to take aim at the NCAA, a co-defendant with EA. If Keller did not have a valid claim against EA, he would not have had a claim against NCAA.

"Because we won against EA, we will be able to go against the NCAA for its looking the other way and increasing its royalty payments by using the likenesses of the students," Carey said. "We look forward to showing a jury the hypocrisy of the NCAA along with the blatant misappropriation by Electronic Arts of the property of the student athletes."

While EA's college games did not use the players' names, most of the players had the same jersey number, height, weight, skin tone, hair color and home state listed in their in-game bio.

EA also sought to dismiss the case by arguing that the information it filled in for the players was allowed because it was statistics that were relevant to the public interest. The appeals court denied that claim as well, differentiating EA from a form of media by saying that "EA is not publishing or reporting factual data."

Nathan Siegel, a First Amendment lawyer who had filed a brief with the court in support of EA and on behalf of media companies (including ESPN), called the decision "disappointing." He said it was a departure from past court rulings in which media companies have won cases allowing them to use personas or performances of athletes in fantasy games and other commercial products.

"This decision flies in the face of principles of creative expression that have been in place for decades," Siegel told Farrey. "The court is doing one of two things. It's either creating a special rule of law for video games, even though the Supreme Court said a few years ago that video games have the same right of expression as other forms of media. Or, the court is articulating some principle that could be applied more broadly, which would open the door for more celebrities to assert their rights [to publicity in media products]."

Siegel said he expects EA to appeal the decision to the full, 11-member Ninth Circuit court and, if necessary, the Supreme Court.

EA spokesman John Reseburg declined to say what EA's next step would be, only that the company is "disappointed with the ruling against First Amendment protection in the Keller case. We believe the reasoning in Judge [Sidney] Thomas' dissent in that decision will ultimately prevail as we seek further court review."

The Keller case can now proceed along with an identical case in New Jersey, which was brought by former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart. In May, an appellate court there also denied EA's First Amendment claim.

It has been a busy month for Electronic Arts, which saw the NCAA drop out as a partner to its college football game earlier this month as the pressure mounts in another case featuring former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon. EA said it will continue to publish the game in the same manner but will not use the NCAA logo in future titles.

The news wasn't all bad for EA on Tuesday. In an unrelated decision, the same three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit that ruled against EA rejected an appeal by former NFL star Jim Brown to reinstate in his lawsuit against the video game company, which had used his likeness in the Madden NFL game.

EA has a licensing agreement with NFL Players Association to use of the names and likenesses of current players. Brown, as a former player, is not covered by those agreements, and argued that his rights were infringed. The panel concluded that Brown's likeness was "artistically relevant to the games and that there were no alleged facts to support the claim that Electronic Arts explicitly misled consumers as to Brown's involvement with the games."

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...am-keller-case

[Tajin]

If they wont share the pie, I say fuck them.

[Callisto]

I could care less about what happens with EA on this, but glad to see it opened the doors for NCAA getting sued over this.

[Melena]

Back when I was at EA I think it was NCAA 2001 they had to pull due to a major bug. The bug was that (and this was less then a week from going gold and being pushed out) there was a way to change the players #'s to there actual names. Essentially the developers were lazy and for stats purposes used the players names, and when it came time to submit it for CQC they reskinned it to show the players numbers only instead of there last names. As you can guess, there was quite the huge panic over that potentially going live.

[6souls]

SEC, Pac-12, & B1G drop their support

King SEC’s decision today to have all their logos and trademarks removed from future iterations of the newly renamed EA Sports’ College Football (RIP NCAA Football) was just the beginning, as both the Pac-12 and the Big Ten (B1G) have followed in the SEC’s footsteps and are disowning EA, according to reports by CBS Sports and ESPN, respectively.

I downplayed one conference dropping out this morning due to the possibility of more robust customization options being included in the now-generic franchise. However, losing all in-game commentary referring to these three specific conferences will do a lot of damage to the game’s presentation. Can you imagine a Rose Bowl that makes no references whatsoever to the Pac-12 and B1G?

Meanwhile, the Big XII hasn’t hashed this out yet, but they’re about to get on it, and nobody knows nor cares what the ACC does at this point. In truth, the conferences that matter have had their say, and so it might be a good idea to stock up on NCAA 14 and your console of choice, because you might be playing it for a long time.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/15/two-...tball-efforts/
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...s-to-ea-sports
http://espn.go.com/college-football/...-football-game

[6souls]

NCAA sues EA for settling

The NCAA is filed a lawsuit against EA over a settlement designed to end an ongoing class action lawsuit over the alleged use of player likenesses in the publisher’s college football series.

USA Today reports the NCAA filed the suit on November 4, accusing EA and the Collegiate Licensing Co of breach of contractual obligations in agreeing to settle the NCAA player likeness case.

Some of these breaches include failing to maintain liability insurance against claims just like this, which would have covered the NCAA’s legal costs during the proceedings. The association also accuses the CLC of failing to adequately supervise EA or produce documentation allowing the NCAA to do it.

The suit aims to bar EA and the CLC from proceeding with the settlement, have EA cover all NCAA’s future liability related to EA games, and cover legal fees for both this suit and the player likeness case.

EA and the NCAA have yet to comment on the matter, while the CLC decried responsibility in the affair, with a spokesperson saying it valued both relationships and that the suit “should not involve” the company.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/11/21/ea-s...ss-settlement/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...wsuit/3657103/

[6souls]

EA & NCAA to pay out $60 million

Student athletes who sued EA and the NCAA over their allegedly exploitive appearances video games will benefit from settlement payouts of $60 million.

EA recently settled with attorneys representing the students, agreeing to a payout of $40 million. The NCAA at first sued EA for coming to this agreement, but has now itself agreed to pay out a further $20 million.

It’s the first time the NCAA has agree to settle on a case pertaining to the use of names, images and likenesses in licensed products, despite allegedly profiting from them for years thanks to games like NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball and NCAA March Madness – as well as other media.

It’s not surprising that the NCAA was reluctant to make the deal, as it sets a precedent which may prove very costly for the student athletics association.

“This is the first time in the history of the NCAA that the organization is paying student-athletes for rights related to their play on the field, compensating them for their contribution to the profit-making nature of college sports,” lead attorney Steve Berman said of the case.

“We’ve long held through our various cases against the NCAA that the student-athlete is treated poorly in everything from scholarships to safety. This settlement is a step toward equity and fairness for them.”

NCAA athletes are barred from earning any money from their athletic endeavours while they participate in the association, which naturally means they feel a bit disgruntled when EA and the NCAA have minted it on games allegedly containing the players’ personal details.

Still, it hasn’t been a highly profitable enterprise for the protesting students; each athlete in the case is now expected to receive over $1,000 per year they appeared in an EA game, with some to receive more.

“We were equally resolute that anyone – even a student-athlete playing under scholarship – should not be exploited for profit, especially by the organization that vowed to prevent the athlete from exploitation,” Berman added.

http://www.vg247.com/2014/06/09/ea-n...dent-athletes/

[6souls]

EA Shuts Down Maxis Emeryville (SimCity)

Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location. Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP.

These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4, with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline.

All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance.

[Melena]

Another developer given the old yeller treatment by EA. Get to join the graveyard with Westwood, Virgin, Bullfrog and others.

[Lucavi]

Should have put it out of its misery years ago. Like a twitching pet on the side of the road after being hit (I speak from experience).