Mascot sues EA for unpaid presence in NCAA Football 06

first!

hey i know vili, i've seen him around the stadium back home. GO UH WARRIORS!!! SUE 'EM VILI, think they can mess with da locals.

Not that I mind anyone grabbing money back from EA, but $75,000 in damages? What did they damage?

Again, I'm completely for this guy needing to get paid for his appearance (without permission), but I just don't get the lawsuit...

By not respecting his creation and its brand value (which depreciates when he isn't paid for the use of his intellectual property, especially for the profit of another), EA may have committed the vicious crime of copyright infringement, which is surely near and dear to its heart of gold (thanks to a little thing called piracy).

4

Ah, yes. Hoisted on their own petard, as it were?

Careful, Joystiq! Better take his pic down before he breaks open a can of lawsuit on you.

I mean, for a warrior, that's kind of silly. He should go into the EA HQ killing, raping and plundering. I think he just sullied his own image.

Speaking of, doesn't his image kind of make you think of the new Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

I hope he wins.

thank you imposter for making me a first post...

Regarding the posts numbered 1 and 8, different e-mail addresses were supplied (though you can't see them publicly), so there's a remote possibility that this is a different jc who wanted to post with that name. Of course, that may also not be true, so I can add a disclaimer like "[Not related to the other jc who posts here]" or something to that comment if it bothers you. Adding a distinct URL to your name could help distinguish you from other posers(?) as well. Just let me know what you'd prefer and I'll see what I can do.

I don't think there is anything needed to be done...

If there is someone else that want's to post as jc, then it is their right...
If it is someone that want's to play with me, who am I to stop that on a gaming site?

Either way, I am not too concerned. Thanks for you concern, Dan Choi... and keep up the great work at Joystiq!

Hey, I aim to please, jc (er... the both of you =). If you have any concerns about the site, or any of my posts, however, please let me know at dpac.dan@gmail.com. I hope I'll have more great stories to post in the future. Thanks for the comments, everyone!

take them down vili!

Does every american have to sue someone by law or something? Everyday I read/ hear about somebody suing for something stupid. For example, today on the news, I saw that some woman sued a medical company for tablets that killed her husband, nothing wrong with suing in that case, but she got a $155 million payout!!!! I better move over there and trip over my shoelace and sue somebody for a few million

ok, her husband was just completely erased from her life, and that includes her income.

on average, men are the major source of income. in many cases they are the ONLY source of income, depending on the situation.

for all you know he accounted for all of the money she made, or at lest a pretty good bit of it. now why don't you try to suddenly live off of that big of a blow to your financial state?

oh, i guess if it were you you'd just sit at home and twiddle your damn thumbs until your whole house was reposessed, huh?

Well, I'm all for the underdog, but companies like EA sign a contract with the NCAA that lets them use all the likenesses of stadiums, mascots, fields, uniforms, and the like. The same license forbids EA from using player likenesses, so that notoriety does not affect college player's lives. Until a player leaves college, he can't be put on the front of a NCAA Football game box, for example.
Because of that, and because Vili is, according to this article, under contract from the University to perform as their game mascot, I don't think that EA's done anything wrong. Being the mascot in a NCAA college game means you have ALREADY signed your acceptance of NCAA licensing agreements, including having your character's likeness included in any NCAA branded products, such as hats, posters, plush dolls, and NCAA Football 2006.

I'm all for the underdog, and justice, and fair play, but this seems more like a guy trying to take advantage of the current fad of EA bashing.

Just my take on it....

Hmmmm (#15), it's a little different in this case because the plaintiff actually created the character that he plays, but I guess it all comes down to how the contract was worded. I'm sure we'll find out the results soon enough (in relative legal time, that is).

EA just sucks period none to the cases but i found this one and i thought i might add this

http://www.freewebs.com/icksb/easucks.txt