Lawsuit by Former NFL Players Against EA Allowed to Advance

[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

Really? lol

Yeah. My perception was that (and obviously I could be wrong) you were looking for a way to shoehorn the exclusive deal in here, as often happens; because making the leap from "EA being used for former player likenesses" to "This is due, in part, to the exclusive deal" takes some mental gymnastics.

That being said, I don't want to derail the thread with a stupid argument, so I'm just going to leave my end of it here.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

Yeah, no. The lawsuit is over past use, and as far as anyone's identified this was well before exclusivity. Shoving the exclusivity agenda into this is just another way to be able to go off about the devil that EA is in the eyes of some and about how the company is responsible for all that's wrong in your world. This has nothing to do with a lack of options to litigate. A word processor is a much broader tool than a video game allowing you to create others intellectual property only in that video game that is generating a revenue in part because of those features. A comparable example would be Marvel v City of Heroes. http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/14/ma...wsuit-settled/ The complaint spawned from the ability to create characters in City of Heroes that closely resembled characters from the Marvel Universe. Use some common sense here guys, if EA themselves aren't allowed to create players in their own game without licensing, why do you think it's legal for you to? They absolutely could send a C&D to Bob and to EA for any violations. Will/would they? Remains to be seen. Companies don't tend to invest in things that are going to encourage legal challenges because they enjoy making money.

NCSoft settled in that case, and according to that article, Marvel had half of its complaint thrown out. Not only that, but there were no changes to the character creator as a result of that lawsuit, according to that article. Companies sometimes settle, not because they are guilty, but because the cost of winning is greater than the settlement. So, yes, anybody can file a lawsuit, but whether it holds water is another story.

If a company were to release a football video game using the licenses from the FBS schools with generic players, but included a player editor so that gamers could create their own characters to use in the game, then that company would, likely, not be held responsible if a group of gamers collaborated in creating an entire roster consisting of real players.

Any game that has a character creator could potentially be the target of a lawsuit if all it took was being able to make a character closely resemble a real human being.

[jpollack34]

A lawsuit like this would go absolutely nowhere if a company were to release a deep editor with no license. Take Fire Pro Wrestling as an example. A a game that has one of the deepest editors I've ever seen. And it has been used for a long time to replicate pretty much every wrestler in appearance and moves. The players look and move exactly like their real life counterparts. Not only would they have absolutely no legal footing. Anyone who goes after the users would be committing suicide. You would essentially be attacking your biggest fans.

[Critical Kills]

Jpollack, exactly what I was saying but you said it better...

[Gman 18]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpollack34

A lawsuit like this would go absolutely nowhere if a company were to release a deep editor with no license. Take Fire Pro Wrestling as an example. A a game that has one of the deepest editors I've ever seen. And it has been used for a long time to replicate pretty much every wrestler in appearance and moves. The players look and move exactly like their real life counterparts. Not only would they have absolutely no legal footing. Anyone who goes after the users would be committing suicide. You would essentially be attacking your biggest fans.

Is this is the case then why do you think EA shys away from enabling the ability to edit draft classes to their games?

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

[jpollack34]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gman 18

Is this is the case then why do you think EA shys away from enabling the ability to edit draft classes to their games? Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

Precisely because they advertise themselves as a licensed product?

Heavy is the head that bought the crown !

[cowboy_kmoney]

Well i hope The NFL will drop the exclusive and open the doors for others to make a game also.

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gman 18

Is this is the case then why do you think EA shys away from enabling the ability to edit draft classes to their games? Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

I think the answer is simple incompetence.

They backed themselves into a corner with their progression system and storylines.