NCAA Sued by Former Player Over Unpaid Use of Image 23/07/2009 |
|
| |
| |
The National Collegiate Athletic Association was sued by a former University of California, Los Angeles basketball player over claims the organization hasn’t paid him for using his image in DVDs and merchandise.
The case, filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks class-action, or group, status on behalf of other players, said Jon T. King, a lawyer representing lead plaintiff Edward O’Bannon.
The lawsuit is at least the fourth this year based on related claims. In May, Sam Keller, a former Arizona State University quarterback, sued the NCAA and Electronic Arts Inc. in federal court in San Francisco for using athletes’ images in video games. In June, two players filed a similar suit against Electronic Arts in New Jersey state court.
“This case is about former student athletes who have been totally foreclosed from participating in the marketplace,” King said today in a phone interview. College athletes are providing “big-business entertainment” similar to actors or musicians, he said. “No other industry assumes it has the rights to someone forever without compensating them.”
Electronic Arts also uses O’Bannon’s image in its “NCAA Basketball 09” video game, according to his complaint.
National Championship
O’Bannon played at UCLA for four seasons, including a national championship in 1995. The NCAA uses his image in a DVD set of the championship sold through its online store for $39.99, according to the complaint. O’Bannon’s name is specifically used to market the DVDs, and he and other college athletes haven’t received payment for the “commercial exploitation” of their images, he claims.
Bob Williams, an NCAA spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement that the organization hasn’t seen the lawsuit. “The NCAA categorically denies any infringement on former or current student-athlete likeness rights,” he said in the statement.
King’s law firm, Hausfeld LLP, is joined by David Boies’s firm, Boies Schiller and Flexner LLP, in the case.
(Source: Bloomberg)
|
| Back |
| |
| |
|
|
 |
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
