Judge Rules Madden NFL Lawsuit May Proceed

[Jaeger_CDN]

Yeah, but we only have eight teams up here. Also, two of them have the same name, the Roughriders. No, I don't know why.

The Ottawa Rough riders became defunct back in 2006 and when they came back they were known as the Renegades. The CFL only has 1 Rough Rider now, Saskatchewan

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Hmm... $75 million sounds like just enough for Antonick to start his own company and release a NFL game that could rival Madden...

Except Ea have exclusive rights to everything NFL. As Midway and 2k found out, it's got to be 'not-American football' and no matter how good the game is you get largely ignored by the market that wants the official game of, not some knock off (in their eyes at least).

I think if he wins he'll just bugger off to some nice town in countryside and live a life of quiet excess.

Just remember that EA is expected to forfeit its licensing deal with the NFL (and also a few other sports organizations as well) in 2014 - If the case lasts long enough, he could very well do so without penalty. In fact, I believe the deals being forfeited are part of a court agreement where EA was accused of creating unfair competition on sports games through those licensing deals...

 

[fix-the-spade]

Just remember that EA is expected to forfeit its...

I think EA will find a way to keep their exclusivity deals, even if they 'forfeit' there will be some work around or it'll be part of a bargaining maneuvre by them to pay less in future.

Even if EA did stop or reduce it's deals the various Major Leagues will still be chasing safe money, EA represent that. No doubt they'll present the opportunity for other companies to sign deals, then largely ignore them. Also, I think EA will cling onto it's deals like a limpet, EA sports is what props up the finances and without it they'd be royally buggered.

 

[Lightknight]

Sadly no. This would be a big hit, but companies have weathered bigger lawsuits than this.

The only thing that could conceivable 'destroy' EA (and wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility) is if it came out that they've been falsifying their financial statements.

We have no way of knowing whether or not it would be a big hit.

We have to see the contract that the individual had with EA. If he really had a contract giving him royalties on any derivative work then he should absolutely have been getting paid, even if the game no longer included his code (depending on the exact working, as phrased in the article here it just says derivative of the game and not code, which indicates sequel IP titles).

It being a big hit depends entirely on the amount of royalties specified in the contract. FYI, it doesn't matter if he was "just a contracted" developer or if he NEVER worked on site. All that matters is the terms of the contract.

He's demanding $4 billion in profit, but that's just silly. The most I'd expect is him to get is his royalties plus interest and perhaps some damages for breach of contract over all this time. In any event, it will really just depend on the actual royalty number. If it'd just get him something like $40k in royalties then I'd hardly expect to multiple millions getting thrown his way unless the courts want to punish EA for this if they've been in the habit of doing this. Otherwise, I don't know if punitive damages would really be up for grabs in this case. In this event, him demanding $4 billion dollars would be a little like me suing a hot dog stand for all their profits because he failed to give me a condiment with my hotdog even though I'd asked for it.