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Dog-faced football fan suing EA for Madden likeness theft photo

Best headline ever.

Cleveland Browns fan John Thompson is known for representing his beloved football team by wearing a terrifying bulb-eyed dog mask. You'd think the man would be happy to appear in the front cover of Madden NFL 09, and maybe he is, but someone's obviously told him he could make money by taking EA to court over using his likeness without permission. 

John "Big Dawg" Thompson wants over $25,000 from Electronic Arts, as well as an injunction to stop the publisher using his "face" in future games. He is one of several plaintiffs filing suit against the company at the moment, with a former football player joining in the fun, along with the boxer licensing group we discussed a few weeks ago. 

I sometimes wonder if EA spends more time in court than in development.


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17 comments | showing # 1 to 17

DarkMagic56's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:25
DarkMagic56
John Thompson is obviously gonna lose his Court Case and the others are most likely cry babies ask for money from a Gaming Giant. sad.
hjd uk's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:25
hjd uk
Luckily EA is a publisher, not a developer, so can spend all the time in court it likes while the devs make the games.
AngryEMOgirl's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:28
AngryEMOgirl
EA is a publisher and developer. Many of their sports titles are made by their own devs.
CelicaCrazed's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:33
CelicaCrazed
What?? No football screaming seagulls?? T_T

@ hjd uk

EA is also a developer. There's EA Canada and EA Tiburon are development studios.
Adam Thomas Cornelius Matheson's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:39
Adam Thomas Cornelius Matheson
It's only 25,000 for EA that's pretty much nothing... if you were this guy you'd probably do the same thing.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:48
Holyetheline
Best of luck to them in this next of many inevitable lawsuits.
J Murda's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:48
J Murda
25 grand? that's a pittance for EA to make such large inroads into the furry community. If they are successful it will prove quite lucrative for EA since furries have quite a bit of disposable income. very strategic move on EA's part.
Isay Isay's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 14:50
Isay Isay
This guy sure is foaming at the mouth to get his money huh?
Not surprising seeing that the Browns do have one of the more rabid fan bases.
Don't think EA will just roll over on this one
All in all 25,000 should fetch quite a lot in the Cleve
AgentMOO's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 15:05
AgentMOO
It's a dawggone shame...

BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 15:06
BluDesign
I see a point in what the guy is doing, but unless the guy owns the image and likeness of that dog mask, his case is groundless and stupid. Imagine if someone tried to sue someone on a similar claim while wearing a Heath Ledger Joker mask in a unique location. The location becomes irrelevant and it's about the ownership of the image and likeness. Same deal.
Magnalon's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 15:36
Magnalon
Does anyone watch Brown games? Nearly all the dedicated fans have dog masks.

What a douche.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 15:48
Xzyliac
Does he fucking know who EA is? He might as well go sue Microsoft or Donald Trump.

Although granted we're about due for a stupid lawsuit story by now.
A New Challenger's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 16:51
A New Challenger
There's probably writing on the back of his ticket into the stadium that specifically states his image or likeness may be used in perpetuity by the NFL with no further compensation due to him.
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 17:18
BluDesign
I think there's a limited liability with a ticket. Your image and likeness can be used for broadcast/rebroadcast if the game is televised. There's nothing implied for your image and likeness adapted to other forms of media without written consent. Meaning your image, though. A dog mask would not qualify. Again, unless this guy has rights to the character or face, he has no case, but it's not a matter of the NFL's rights to the fans. If that were the case, we'd all be owned by the NFL.

Honestly, for all the trouble the guy is going through, they can make it all go away with a patch. For all their efforts in trying to add some character to what is otherwise a cookie cutter process and roster update for them each year, this pretty much guarantees that they'll kill off anything that even looks potentially original or libelous to a crowd shot.

Way to go asshole. You made Madden even more tedious and boring.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 19:32
Dexter345
I've done an image search for this cover, and I don't see him anywhere on it. Back cover, maybe?
NihonTiger90's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 19:37
NihonTiger90
Dex, it's just his likeness in general, I think. I know for a fact there were fans in the game for the Browns who looked like him. Not sure if a screencap of that was on the back cover or not, though.
MesonW's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/06/2009 11:19
MesonW
I wish someone would sue all Americans who have ever brought up greedy, pointless lawsuits like this. Their charge? Greed, and the spreading of litigiousness throughout the known world. The damages? 50% of everything they own.

I hope EA takes him to court and soundly defeats him. He should definitely incur court costs for wasting their time. A trivial 25k isn't the point; it's the principle at stake.
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