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Report: EA requested college athlete likenesses prior to NCAA lawsuit
The NCAA reportedly considered licensing the names and likeness of student athletes to Electronic Arts for its college sports games before the publisher faced its class action suit led by Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller in May 2009. Documents from the ongoing Ed O'Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit reveal that EA sought to depict the athletes "just as they are shown on TV broadcasts" as of 2007, AL.com reported. "This means putting student-athlete names on rosters and on jerseys in the game, and secondarily using facial likenesses (this could be done in stages)," the NCAA document in question stated. The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) was also involved in the discussion, as documents stating the CLC's position involved in the O'Bannon lawsuit said that "using the rosters in the games, and maybe the names of student-athletes on jerseys in the game would be worthwhile." The documents also reportedly state that the NCAA was aware that EA already based rosters for its college sports games on real-life athletes. While EA and the CLC settled its lawsuit with student athletes to the tune of $40 million last year after canceling its college football game in development for this year, the O'Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit only just reached a new milestone today: U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ordered that settlement talks between both parties begin. The NCAA also sued EA and the CLC in November, alleging that EA failed to agree to compensate the NCAA for losses related to legal claims from student athletes after its proposed settlement. [Image: NCAA]
EA and NCAA's appeal rejected in likeness lawsuit
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal by EA and NCAA that college athletes' likenesses were protected by the First Amendment with regard to the development of EA's college football and basketball games. Just yesterday, EA motioned to dismiss a third amended complaint that added six current NCAA student athletes to certify the class in the lawsuit. The majority opinion held by the court stated that "EA's use of the likenesses of college athletes like Samuel Keller in its video games is not, as a matter of law, protected by the First Amendment." This began with former Nebraska quarterback Samuel Keller filing a class-action lawsuit against EA in May 2009. The suit has since been combined with that of former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon, according to Bloomberg. NCAA opted to not renew its contract with EA for development of the NCAA Football series earlier this month. EA stated that it will move forward in developing college football games with licensing provided by the Collegiate Licensing Company for the next three years on a non-exclusive basis.
