EA Wins Dismissal In NCAA Player Likeness Suit, Puts Dent in Sam Keller Case

[Steve_OS]

EA has won the Ryan Hart NCAA player likeness suit and puts a dent in the Sam Keller case.

Head on over to Gamasutra for the details.

Quote:

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson accepted EA's arguments that its First Amendment right to free expression overruled the privacy rights of Hart and other NCAA players to protect use of their name and likeness. While EA's NCAA Football 2006 didn't refer to Hart by name, his lawsuit pointed out that the "virtual QB" for Rutgers in the game shared Hart's general appearance, attributes, uniform number, height, weight, visor, home state, and even a distinctive left hand wristband Hart wore.

[Aph0ticShield]

That's good news for roster makers.

EDIT: Does this suit mean that they can put names in the game now?

[Bullet Sponge]

This is fantastic news for EA. The ruling doesn't deny that EA used the player likenesses (without names) but says it was within their rights of free speech to do so. This opens the door for EA to go back to putting in players that are identical in all but name. Heck perhaps even names?

"U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson accepted EA's arguments that its First Amendment right to free expression overruled the privacy rights of Hart and other NCAA players to protect use of their name and likeness."

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Aph0ticShield

That's good news for roster makers. EDIT: Does this suit mean that they can put names in the game now?

No, that's still against the terms of agreement between EA and the NCAA.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Aph0ticShield

That's good news for roster makers. EDIT: Does this suit mean that they can put names in the game now?

No it just means that they can continue to do what theyve done in the past.

[nolan273]

That hurts all such suits against EA Sports. It could potentially dismiss EA from the Sam Keller suit, as well. Ed O'Bannon still has the best case, IMO. I don't think he named EA Sports in his lawsuit...

It's really good news for fans of college football video games... Now if EA could rid the game of all the glitches and bugs...

[Sundown2600]

Good news for EA and gamers but I do understand the position of some of these players.

I remember the PS2 days when star players on NCAA really did closely resemble their real life counterparts. I remember Timmy Chang the Hawaii QB being in the game and you can tell that EA went out of their way to make him look Asian. The face detail of some star players from last gen was actually better than now as far as resembling real players, but it's obvious that this suit caused EA to change their approach. Hopefully after this ruling maybe they can get back to making the star players faces look closer to real life.

[Herky]

Good news.

Too bad Sam Keller didn't try to put this much effort into being a good QB after college.