Despite EA's efforts to quell the lawsuit against them by retired NFL players, a California judge rejected the publisher's motion to dismiss the case.
The NFL players behind the lawsuit want to turn it into a class action so that roughly 6,000 retired NFL players can take part. The suit alleges that EA via EA Sports used their likenesses without their consent in numerous Madden NFL games. EA claims that the likenesses are "fair use" and that the players' real names were never used. Furthermore, EA claims protection under the First Amendment and California state law.
The current plaintiffs in the suit are Tony Davis of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vince Ferragamo of the LA Rams (remember when the Rams were in LA?), and Billy Joe DuPree of the Dallas Cowboys. They seek damages as well as all profits related to the use of their likenesses by EA.
If this succeeds in any way, I suppose the next question will be when we will see copycat lawsuits for EA NHL, FIFA, and even NCAA Football games.
[Source]
