NFL Players Union Loses Licensing Lawsuit
The Madden NFL [http://www.nflplayers.com/] franchise.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 2000 former Green Bay Packers [http://www.nfl.com/] player Herb Adderly was scrambled in the Madden NFL games because the union didn't want to pay him.
"There are 143 vintage team games from Electronic Arts [http://www.ea.com]. These are teams that are people's favorite," attorney Ronald Katz said. "These men did nothing but trust their union."
The jury agreed, awarding $7.1 million in damages for the union's breach of its fiduciary duty to retired players, and another $21 million in punitive damages. Naturally, the players' union claims that only active players were covered by the licensing contracts, and union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler said they would seek a reversal of the verdict and, if unsuccessful, launch an appeal. "The decision is contrary to the law and it's an unjust verdict and we are confident it will be overturned," he said.
The Madden NFL franchise is one of the most successful series of sports videogames in history, and despite its age and the fact that it's often held up as one of the prime examples of everything that's wrong with videogames today, it remains the flagship title of the EA Sports [http://www.easports.com] lineup. Electronic Arts was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Source: Bloomberg [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=a2egC1OsVjDU&refer=amsports]
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The Madden NFL [http://www.nflplayers.com/] franchise.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 2000 former Green Bay Packers [http://www.nfl.com/] player Herb Adderly was scrambled in the Madden NFL games because the union didn't want to pay him.
"There are 143 vintage team games from Electronic Arts [http://www.ea.com]. These are teams that are people's favorite," attorney Ronald Katz said. "These men did nothing but trust their union."
The jury agreed, awarding $7.1 million in damages for the union's breach of its fiduciary duty to retired players, and another $21 million in punitive damages. Naturally, the players' union claims that only active players were covered by the licensing contracts, and union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler said they would seek a reversal of the verdict and, if unsuccessful, launch an appeal. "The decision is contrary to the law and it's an unjust verdict and we are confident it will be overturned," he said.
The Madden NFL franchise is one of the most successful series of sports videogames in history, and despite its age and the fact that it's often held up as one of the prime examples of everything that's wrong with videogames today, it remains the flagship title of the EA Sports [http://www.easports.com] lineup. Electronic Arts was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Source: Bloomberg [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=a2egC1OsVjDU&refer=amsports]
Permalink