Licensing Likenesses For Sports Games

mojotooth writes "According to an article on The Register (via Gamesindustry.biz), German courts have handed down a ruling that the EA Sports game FIFA World Cup 2002 cannot be sold in Germany, because it features the name and likeness of Bundesleague goalkeeper Oliver Kahn without his express permission. The court has not yet handed down damages. This could be troubling to the sports gaming industry - we might be forced back into the dark ages of sports gaming, where team names and jersey numbers could be used, but not the names or likenesses of the players."

Comments

Roger Clemen's baseball, circa 1992ish

[Joe the Lesser]

If anyone played this NES game (I'm pretty sure it was endorsed by clemens, or some other good pitcher') It only had his permission, so they changed all the names of every single major league player slightly, which made it quite hilarious to figure out who was who.

(Now pitching, Tim Glavoon).

kids, its called appropriation

[dextr0us]

Appropriation applies to any form of media, where someone can be identified. [on a side note, identificaiton means that they could be one of 15-20 people] In the news, we always have to be quite careful when releasing names and not photographs of people [confusion of a rapist is probably not a good thing].

I cant imagine fifa not having some sort of players association that they could liscence through. If they dont, they need to get their head in the game. Look at the NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, NHL, even nascar. They all have players associations that handle likeness issues.

Not Oliver Khan

[Utopia]

Its Oliver Kahn

Here is the screenshot of Oliver in the game.

Shock! Horror!

[Jahf]

Dang, now games may have to be sold based on their gameplay mechanics and merits instead of relying on borrowing famous names.

Easy solution

[lightspawn]

Instead of the real sports people, just use open source "movers and shakers" (they shake when they move!).

But seriously, do you really have to have the likeness of NBA players to enjoy a basketball arcade game? It just increases the barrier of entry for the little guy. The back yard (or whatever it's called) sports series became successful without any licensed playas, didn't it?

Tony Hawk may actually care about the games and spend ages with the developers explaining stuff but most sportonalities don't. Did Jeremy McGrath even played that horrible Dreamcast game after putting his name on it? No, or he would never have agreed to peddle a game where the motorcycles controlled - and sounded - like bees.

Hey, raffle off a chance to get your likeness in the game. Put yourselves and your girlfriends in the game. Work out a deal with a toy company that needs brand recognition in time for the xmas rush. Just stop this 'you must be at least this $$$ rich to create even the suckiest sports game' madness.

Come on, didn't you have fun playing that hockey game on the NES? Did Activision's Atari 2600 Tennis game suck because you were 'black guy' or 'white guy' instead of 16 professionals? Was Atari's Pele's soccer better because of the name? All the soccer players in that title were three rectangles, so I don't think any of them was any more or less Pele than the others.

OK, I'm all rambled out now.

"dark ages"

[Anonymous Coward]

we might be forced back into the dark ages of sports gaming, where team names and jersey numbers could be used, but not the names or likenesses of the players

Or push us forward to an enlightened age where you actually ask permission before getting rich off somebody else's reputation.

Sheesh.

Could be a new market...

[clambake]

There has to be some kid somewhere named "Micheal Jordan" who is a fairly good basket ball player... Why not pay that kid for his likeness and name? I'm sure it would be alot cheaper then the real guy.

They shoot, he scores ... TOOOOOOOOOORT!

[watchful.babbler]

I imagine there's more to this story than is told; in America, the "right to publicity" is fairly well-established in a large number of states (and is mentioned in the Second Restatement of Torts as "appropriation of name or likeness"). For example, in a case involving an Oklahoma statute protecting publicity rights, the 10th Circuit defined those rights under the statute as "a form of property protection that allows people to profit from the full commercial value of their identities." Cardtoons L.C. v. Major League Baseball Players' Association, 95 F.3d 959 (10th Cir., 1997)

Furthermore, although Germany has only a limited statutory right of publicity insofar as photographs are concerned, it has at times based a tentative right to publicity on Constitutional grounds, and is known for a more expansive definition of "commercial activity" than U.S. courts (for example, where news reportage would be prima facie protected in the States, it is treated as a commercial activity in Germany).

I find it surprising and unlikely that EA would attempt to sell a video game using the likeness of a sports star without some kind of licensing deal, since otherwise they could be found liable in a wide range of venues. Either somebody really screwed up (and, hey, it could have been in-house counsel!), or else there's something more to this dispute.

Re:They shoot, he scores ... TOOOOOOOOOORT!

[Anonymous Coward]

As the article states, EA made a deal with FIFA as well as the Bundesliga (the German Football league) for the use of names and likenesses of the players on the German football teams.

The precedent that this sets is that the agreement between EA and the Bundesliga is no longer valid -- which means that EA would have to go personally to each player individually to get permission. EA would definitely go after FIFA and the Bundesliga if this is the case, because then it is the Bundesliga's fault for not getting permission for its players for the video game. In germany, at least, the Bundesliga's selling names and likenesses it doesn't have the right to.

How does this get solved? Well, asking for permission would be a start. Make sure the money earned from the license goes to the players. Lots of things can be done to ensure everyone gets along. And if a player simply doesn't want to appear, put them on the injured list the entire season! (in the game, that is!) :)

If people DON'T play nice, then there might be some words spoken between the leagues, the clubs and the players. I don't know what the politics of the German clubs are like, so I can't predict what conclusion would happen.

(On a side note: It's nice to be able to play a video game and be your sports hero. Every kid wants to be Wayne Gretsky or David Beckham or Michael Jordan! It's not necessary but I think it adds legitimacy and reality to the games.)

Golcen Age

[Apreche]

You mean we'll go back to the golden age. Where in Bases Loaded the best batters were Paste and Warner. And team names were single letters like P, B and M. The only sports games that are good anymore are NHL 200*. Other than that the best are NBA Jam, Bases Loaded, Baseball, Baseball Simulator, 10 Yard Fight, Tecmo Super Bowl, Blades of Steel, and the best ever Ice Hockey. I'd rather have generic color teams with no branding. Then the companies will concentrate on making the game better and not on getting the better license.

Another example...

[jayoyayo]

Another example of this can be found with Konami's brilliant Winning Eleven soccer games. They have a FIFAPro licensce (as EA has exclusive full FIFA licensce) and as such change around the names of many players (Rodalno instead of Ronaldo, etc..). However, a certain dutch league has threatened to sue Konami even with the mixed up names, thus many dutch players have the name Oranges002, Oranges003, etc... But its all good because Konami gives you the option of changing team names, player names, etc... Winning Eleven is far superior to EA's FIFA in everything but graphics.