Ex-Nebraska QB Sues NCAA, EA Sports In San Francisco Court
by David Fucillo on May 7, 2009 11:49 PM PDT
in San Francisco 49ers News
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PrintAt the moment this has nothing to do with the NFL, but I think it's interesting enough to open up for discussion. Former Nebraska QB Sam Keller has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and EA Sports for the "blatant and unlawful use" of student-athlete likenesses in video games.
The suit states that among other things EA:
"intentionally circumvents the prohibitions on utilizing student athletes' names in commercial ventures by allowing gamers to upload entire rosters, which include players' names and other information."
...."With rare exception, virtually every real-life Division I football or basketball player in the NCAA has a corresponding player in Electronic Arts' games with the same jersey number, and virtually identical height, weight, build, and home state. In addition, Electronic Arts matches the player's skin tone, hair color, and often even a player's hair style, although this last characteristic can be highly variable over even a single season."
The suit is a class action filed on behalf of all college athletes depicted in the NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball games.
The NCAA did have a response:
Our agreement with EA Sports clearly prohibits the use of names and pictures of current student-athletes in their electronic games," said NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson, in a statement. "We are confident that no such use has occurred and that we will ultimately be dismissed from this lawsuit.
One interesting article closed with an amusing comment about the NCAA: "But while they may be okay by the letter of the law, once again the NCAA violates the spirit of protecting the student athlete with alarming ease. So long as they are getting paid."
I bring this up in part because the lawsuit was filed in San Francisco. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for how this plays out.
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Sounds Great..
During the next weeks upon weeks there will hardly be any news on the 49ers so intriguing football news in itself is fun to catch up on.
Ha
Hey Fooch, I’m guessing the non-law student population of ninersnation isn’t gonna find this quite as interesting as you did. ;)
Thing A
crazy
what do you think his chances of winning this are Fooch?
"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman"
not good
I wouldn’t be surprised if it got thrown out.
by David Fucillo on May 8, 2009 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions
that's sort of what i figured
who would advise him that this would be a good idea? i’m not a lawyer but I think even I could see this is pretty ridiculous.
"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman"
I don't get it...
The kid is suing because EA (and by extension, NCAA) isn’t preventing gamers from editing players names into the game? That’s utterly ridiculous.
Apparently..
… someone’s bitter about his career ending abruptly.
This is ridiculous
It’s just some chump trying to make an easy buck through a frivolous lawsuit. I bet Sam Keller initially thought it was awesome that that his likeness was duplicated in a video game.
Don't sweat it. I'm illiterate.
by methodrampage on May 8, 2009 8:59 AM PDT up reply actions
I think it’s just another attempt to fight the fact that the NCAA is making a ton of money off these athletes and the athletes are entitled to a piece of the pie. Not stating my opinion on the matter, but I definitely do think it is becoming a legitimate issue.
Piece of the pie
what, you mean like a paid for college education? That use to be a big deal. People in most professions work and spend money to get their names out there. This guys upset that his is floating around for free. Well, his name’s out there now, and not in a good way.
Without college sports...
… college would be, literally, priced out of most of America’s affordability range. College athletics can make schools money (especially the elite Division I schools), but a lot of that money is pumped back into the school. Yes, the players are making the team money, but they’re also getting an opportunity at something most of the youth in the country don’t have access to: a college education.
In the long run, the money an individual athlete may bring into a school is eclipsed by the amount of money they make as a result of their time at the college. It’s just like any other career. Think of being a college athlete as being a marginally paid intern, with the more coveted ones being paid more (i.e. full-ride vs tuition-only scholarships, etc).
From my handful of law-related classes in political science and journalism, isn’t his case moot because he’s no longer a player? At best he could sue for unauthorized attribution in past video games. Wouldn’t it take a lawsuit from a current student-athlete for the case to be considered ripe?
And anyway, when you sign your acceptance letter to a school, as all students and athletes do, one of the things you agree to is a model release clause. That gives the university the right to use your likeness for the promotion of the school. That could be cited as a defense, I suppose.
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
standing
Yea, it seems like he would no longer have standing to sue. I haven’t looked into it in any detail, but the representative of the class would seem to have to be a current student.
by David Fucillo on May 8, 2009 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions
not necessarily
even though he’s no longer a student, the use is still being made of his name and image
"Those boos really motivate me to make something happen." - Bonds
Sam Keller is a douche
what does he expect the EA Sports games to do? just use blank fictional players? contact, ask permission, and pay every college football player in America?
He’s missing the point that these sports games actually generate more fans for himself and his school. By bringing this lawsuit, he’s going to lose fans and now has created a whole legal mess that’s not really going to benefit anyone.
"Those boos really motivate me to make something happen." - Bonds
keller
People are getting on his case, but is this much different from the school making money off of sales of his (and other players) jerseys? People say athletes should get some kind of cut of that. This is different in that it’s not “using player’s names” but it is using their likeness. Anyways, just a thought on it.
by David Fucillo on May 8, 2009 10:47 AM PDT up reply actions
I believed Keller's dad is a lawyer
He went to HS near me and was a big shot before going to ASU then Nebraska. Turned out to be as big a bust in college as another local premier QB Kyle Wright (who was in 49ers’ camp before being cut).
Since his dad’s a lawyer and he ain’t doing much these days without Arena Football, he figured to score a few bucks off EA Sports and NCAA. I’m sure this lawsuit won’t last very long but hey, a lady did get $600k for spilling hot coffee on herself and complained that it was indeed hot.
Mo'ped Money, Mo'ped Problems
Kellers attempt at making some money
sfgfan said it best. He’s upset because his football days are over.
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