Ex-NCAA Athletes Win This Round In EA Lawsuit

((HT: Reuters))

The case is known as:

In re: NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 10-15387; and Brown v. Electronic Arts Inc in the same court, No. 09-56675.

By a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Electronic Arts' use of former college players in its NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball games did not deserve protection as free expression under the First Amendment.

EA is being sued by ex-college athletes saying their likenesses were used without their permission...

Former Arizona State QB Sam Keller and others claimed that EA had misappropriated their identities and likenesses without compensation.

Electronic Arts said it plans to appeal.

((Of course they are...))

Circuit Judge Jay Bybee wrote the majority opinion saying that EA "literally recreates Keller in the very setting in which he has achieved renown,"

Judge Bybee also said that pretty much everything associated with Keller's character on the 2005 version of the game resembled Keller's own live, actual person...

Here's the background on Keller's three-year chase to date with Mark Fainaru-Wada...
((HT: OTL on ESPN))


The HQ knows this isn't over by a long shot...