Legal Notice from U.S. District Court: EA Sports Class Action (e-mail)

[Matt Diesel]

Uh, did anyone else get this in their e-mail:


GEOFFREY PECOVER and ANDREW OWENS v. ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.
U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.)
Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW

If You Purchased Certain Electronic Arts Brand Football Video Games
Between January 1, 2005 to the Present
You May Be a Class Member.

Membership as a class member in the Electronic Arts Litigation is the result of a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division (Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW).

What Is This Class Action About?
The class action lawsuit alleges violations of California's antitrust and consumer protection laws in connection with the sale of certain football video games. Plaintiffs, purchasers of Electronic Arts' football video games, claim that Defendant Electronic Arts entered into a series of exclusive licenses with the National Football League (NFL), National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and Arena Football League (AFL), which Plaintiffs claim foreclosed competition in an alleged football video game market. Plaintiffs allege that this series of exclusive licenses caused customers who purchased certain football video games to be overcharged.
Defendant Electronic Arts has denied any liability and all allegations of misconduct. The Court has not decided whether the Defendants did anything wrong, and this Notice is not an expression of any opinion by the Court about the merits of any of the claims or defenses asserted by any party to this litigation.

Who Are Class Members?
The Class includes all persons who, during the period January 1, 2005 to the present, purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football League brand video games published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005 to the present. Excluded from the class are purchasers of software for mobile devices, persons purchasing directly from Electronic Arts, persons purchasing used copies of the relevant football video games, and Electronic Arts' employees, officers, directors, legal representatives, and wholly or partly owned subsidiaries or affiliated companies.

What Should I Do? (Getting Further Information)
If you believe that you may be a class member (see above "Who Are Class Members"), you should get more detailed information about the class action and its potential effect on you and your rights. Further information can be obtained by going to the following website: www.easportslitigation.com. Additional information about the lawsuit may be obtained from Plaintiffs' Counsel website at www.hbsslaw.com, or by calling Plaintiffs' Counsel at 1-206-623-7292.

To Remain a Class Member
If you are a class member and you do nothing, you will be bound by the court's rulings in the lawsuit, including any final Settlement or Judgment.

[Lexicon]

I signed up for this lawsuit a couple months ago. I can't remember where I found it though. Might have just been through google.

[arsenal123gunners]

Yep
10 char

[MrSkagTrendy]

Yeah what the hell is all that about?

[arsenal123gunners]

There is a class action lawsuit against EA for their exclusivity to the NFL liscense, and they are just notifying everyone who bought EA football games that they qualify as part of the lawsuit

[mburke2]

Just recieved this in my email about 5 minutes ago. Doubtful anything comes out of this in terms of settlement money but I might as well sign up as a plaintiff.

[MrNFL_FanIQ]

Yeah I got this too to mail to my surprise.

Like everything else regarding this issue, I doubt anything really comes from this. Although the NFL labor unrest might actually have an effect on the exclusive deals of EA and others like DirecTV.

[Zombiecakes]

I'm surprised the player's union/association hasn't mentioned this as part of their new CBA settlement talks.

I bet the players could make a pretty penny demanding royalties for their likenesses used in NFL football games. And the more football games that had the NFL shield on them, the more money and exposure they could make.