EA have rebuffed threats of legal action by a group of retired NFL players for using their likenesses without permission.
Fresh from the battle with the NFL Players Association, a battle that netted them $28.1 million, a group of more than 2,000 retired NFL players announced their intention to sue EA for including them in the Madden NFL games without permission via an open letter on the blog of Bernie Parrish, former halfback for the Cleveland Browns.
The letter alleges that EA conspired with the NFLPA to cheat the players out of their due compensation by ‘scrambling’ the players’ identities and entreats them to save $1,000 from their settlement for a ‘litigation war chest’. And EA’s response to these accusations?
“This is a dispute between the retired players and their union,” a spokesperson said. “We are not aware of any legal action involving EA.”
Now this comment is technically true, as the letter only announced their intentions to pursue the matter further, but given that the Madden NFL franchise is a major money maker for EA, we might have expected something a little more robust than “La la la, I can’t hear you!” Regardless, it seems that litigation is going to feature pretty heavily in EA’s future.
Source: 1up
