U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken has denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by Hagens Berman against EA and NCAA. The Class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of current and former college athletes, claims that EA used likenesses of current and former college athletes in their NCAA games. The case will be heard in April.In their attempt to get the case dismissed, EA and NCAA tried using the First Amendment. however, the court recognised that there were similarities between real athletes and those in the game. At this point, EA has not disputed the claims and will have to prove that they did not use the likenesses of college athletes in NCAA games.
Press Release
LOS ANGELES --(Business Wire)-- Feb 11, 2010 Recent developments surfaced this week in a class-action lawsuit filed by Hagens Berman against Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) and NCAA. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken denied a motion to dismiss the case. The class action, on behalf of current and former college athletes, will move forward April 2010.
The decision forces video game maker, EA, along with NCAA, to now prove they did not use the likenesses of actual college athletes in NCAA-branded video games, said lead attorney Rob Carey with Hagens Berman. “EA tried to hide under the First Amendment but the court recognized similarities between real athletes and the game were just too great to be ignored.”
EA did not at this juncture dispute claims made by plaintiff Samuel Keller, former quarterback for Arizona State University. Instead, the company unsuccessfully sought a defense under the First Amendment. Judge Wilken rejected the gaming company’s argument along with NCAA’s, citing that allegations made by Mr. Keller have merit.
EA reported revenue of $1.24 billion during the third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009 this week. The gaming company also confirmed its decision to discontinue the development of NCAA Basketball video games, telling Game Informer magazine, “we're currently reviewing the future of our NCAA Basketball business."
For more information about the class-action lawsuit against NCAA and EA, visit http://hbsslaw.com/ncaavideogames.
About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is a nationally recognized class-action and complex-litigation law firm based in Seattle with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Among recent successes, HBSS negotiated a $300 million settlement in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation, the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history, recovered $340 million on behalf of Enron employees, and was part of the leadership team in the $3 billion Visa/MasterCard settlement. In pharmaceutical litigation, the firm's recent successes include a $350 million settlement with McKesson, more than $200 million with other parties in drug-pricing litigation, and a $150 million settlement regarding Lupron. HBSS represented Washington and 12 other states against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in history. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit www.hbsslaw.com.
