Quote:
Originally Posted by kcchief19
I did read the PDF. My question is relates to essentially whether or not you have a intellectual property claim to your biographical data. It would seem that most of the "information" included in the game would be public information.
For example, let's say I'm Rivals.com. I already list your stats, your scout ratings and your physical details such as height and weight. I also include personal data such as your birthday and hometown. Maybe I really want to be thorough and I specific your equipment, such as whether you wear a blue Nike wristband. What of that information is information you own that no one else can use? That is generally public information. I can't copyright my birthday or prevent anyone from publishing a description of how I style my hair or what color sunglasses I wear.
I do think it's a separate question of whether a reasonable computer-graphic representation of you is your likeness. That's a fair question for the court to decide. Like I said before, the next time I see a guy in an EA college game that actually looks exactly like the real guy will be the first time. The guy at QB for Missouri may have Chase Daniel's biographical data and number, but he doesn't actually look like Chase Daniel.
It will be interesting to see EA's response. They aren't idiots -- they have to have prepared a response for this for years. I doubt they started using this information in the first place without preparing for the day they would have to defend the practice.
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I think it's a real tricky situation. I could honestly see both sides of the argument. Lets say you made a kids game that involved animals. You made the main character look exactly like the crocodile hunter down to everything he wore. You hire a voice actor who can do his voice perfectly. You call him something generic but allow people to edit his name. When does it turn into using their likeness to make a profit?