14 DAY TRIAL // A court in the United States state of California has announced that the lawsuit that was filed by retired National Football League players against video game publisher Electronic Arts over the Madden NFL series can go ahead.
The judge has dismissed a motion from the publisher, which aimed to strike the lawsuit launched against it, and has allowed the two parties to have their way in court.
A deal between them is still a possibility.
The retired NFL players involved in the legal action are Tony Davis of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vince Ferragamo from the Los Angeles Rams, and Billy Joe DuPree from the Dallas Cowboys.
They are asking the courts to award them damages, all the profit that Electronic Arts has made from using the likenesses of the retired players and the money they spend on legal representation.
The historic modes in the Madden NFL series include the likeness and the moves of retired players, but their names and their numbers are changed, although any player can easily use an included editor in order to restore them.
It’s not clear when the case is argued in court.
The legal action from three players might end up involving close to 6,000 retirees as long as they are interested in joining the class action suit.
Recently, Electronic Arts has won a similar case against a number of college players who have also sued the company for using their likeness without compensation in its NCAA Football franchise.
The publisher has successfully argued that its right to free artistic expression linked to the First Amendment of the Constitution overrules the publicity rights that the players involved.
At the moment Electronic Arts is working on Madden NFL 13 and it allows gamers to vote on the potential cover athletes before the end of spring.