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EA wins Madden lawsuit

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Former NFL player Jim Brown sued EA over its use of a character in Madden NFL. The character looks like Brown, but was not identified as Brown, and wore a different number.<p> <p> A federal court judge in Los Angeles has now ruled in favour of EA, concluding that the First Amendment protected EA's expression in this case. <p> <p> Brown had argued that EA's use of his likeness was a false endorsement of the game. If he had argued instead that EA had violated his right of publicity, the result might have been different. Likewise, if EA had used Brown's name (instead of only his likeness) the result could have been different as well. <p> <p> Coverage here: http://tinyurl.com/ycrp4fc (Gamasutra)<p>Bookmarks: <a href="http://del.icio.us/login/?url=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit&title=EA+wins+Madden+lawsuit" >Delicious</a>, <a href="http://digg.com/tools/digthis.php?u=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit" >Digg </a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=add&bkmk=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit&title=EA+wins+Madden+lawsuit" >Google</a>, <a href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit&title=EA+wins+Madden+lawsuit">Reddit</a>, <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit&title=EA+wins+Madden+lawsuit">StumbleUpon</a>, <a href="http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?u=http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/Video-Game-Law/2009/10/01/EA-wins-Madden-lawsuit&=EA+wins+Madden+lawsuit" >Yahoo</a>

Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).