When NCAA Football got SUED by it's own Athletes!

For a long time, EA Sports' NCAA Football games featured thousands of college athletes who looked and played remarkably like the real players they were based on. But the problem was, those players weren't paid for having their likenesses used in the games. In 2009, former Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller sued EA, arguing that the NCAA Football series used his likeness without his permission. His case was eventually combined with claims from former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and other college athletes. The athletes argued that EA was recreating real players in its games by giving virtual players the same teams, positions, jersey numbers, physical characteristics and other details as the athletes they were based on. EA argued that its games were protected by the First Amendment because they were creative works, but in 20 13, the Ninth Circuit rejected that defense in Keller's case. The court found that EA had essentially recreated Keller in the same football setting where he had become famous, meaning the game's creative elements did not transform his likeness enough to protect EA from the right-of-publicity claim. EA eventually decided to settle. In 20 13, EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company reached a settlement worth around $40 million for players whose likenesses had been used in EA's college football and basketball games. The settlement could provide payments of up to $4,000 to eligible athletes, with the final amount depending on which games and years they appeared in. But the damage went beyond the settlement itself. EA had already announced that it was putting the NCAA Football series on hold in 20 13, and the final game in the series, NCAA Football 14, was released that July. The lawsuit wasn't the only reason the series stopped, since EA also faced uncertainty over its licensing relationship with the NCAA and the changing legal landscape surrounding college athletes. Still, the litigation made it increasingly difficult for EA to continue producing the games in their existing form. #gaming #lawsuit #ncaafootball