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Games Entertainment

Licensing Likenesses For Sports Games 61

Posted by simoniker from the bavid-deckham-and-wiger-toods dept.
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."
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Licensing Likenesses For Sports Games More

Licensing Likenesses For Sports Games

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  • Roger Clemen's baseball, circa 1992ish (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joe the Lesser ( 533425 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:16PM (#5837378) Homepage Journal
    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 (Score:4, Informative)

    by dextr0us ( 565556 ) <dextr0us@spl . a t> on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:19PM (#5837401) Homepage Journal
    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.
    • From the Article:
      EA possesses an FIFPro license for its football titles, as well as an exclusive deal with the German Bundesleague which permits them to use character likenesses and names.

      If I'm reading this right it looks like EA already had a license?

    • This case is a little confusing, but from what I gathered on German game-related message boards, football licenses are handled by UEFA. This goes for simulations, as well as management games. UEFA has the right to sell a license that covers player names and club jerseys, but not the players' likeness. Supposedly, Oliver Kahn sued under the "personal damage" statute for using his likeness, a fact that has caused quite an amusement.

      Disclaimer: n-tv.de claims [n-tv.de] something different, that EA had no right to u

  • I never minded naming my player in the "good old days" (Baseball Stars). You can either name them after the real team yourself or whatever group you like. Star Trek, Star Wars, any other geeky obsession.
    • Ya it can be fun. Want a laugh? Go back to Baseball Stars now and see what was on your mind 15 years ago. Baseball Stars was ok as far as putting names in because there weren't that many teams. Try doing it for an NFL game that has 45 man rosters or an NCAA football game that has 100+ teams (yes I know there is no NCAA license for player names, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been done!)

  • Not Oliver Khan (Score:2, Informative)

    by Utopia ( 149375 )
    Its Oliver Kahn

    Here is the screenshot [fifabenelux.com] of Oliver in the game.

  • Shock! Horror! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Jahf ( 21968 )
    Dang, now games may have to be sold based on their gameplay mechanics and merits instead of relying on borrowing famous names.

    • Why can't there be both? While it's true that many studios spend their budget on a license and skimp on the game, that's not the case with many a sports game. Madden, NFL2K3, etc. all are great based soley on the gameplay. But it is way more fun to play as your favorite quarterback than as "number 4." The EA college sport games are great, but since the NCAA can't license students' names and likenesses, the games suffer a bit. It's doesn't ruin the game, but it's missing the extra polish that makes for an ev

  • Easy solution (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lightspawn ( 155347 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:33PM (#5837539) Homepage
    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.

    • But seriously, do you really have to have the likeness of NBA players to enjoy a basketball arcade game?

      Some players like that, others don't. I personally like building the NFL Europe teams in Madden into Super Bowl winners. Yes, I actually won a ring with Danny Wuerffel... ;o)

      The back yard (or whatever it's called) sports series became successful without any licensed playas, didn't it?

      IIRC, there were successful Backyard Sports games that did license players names and images. They did an NFL g

    • i had fun back in those NES days with the no-name teams and no-name players, but it's alot more fun to be playing as *favorite real life team* than *no name player x*
      • had fun back in those NES days with the no-name teams and no-name players, but it's alot more fun to be playing as *favorite real life team* than *no name player x*

        OK, how about this: no pre-made professionals, but you can customize characters' appearance in many many ways (think recent Tony Hawks - my nieces had so much fun playing dress-up they wouldn't let me play the actual game). Let players upload and download and you're all done - somebody will create every major team / player, and it would be d

  • I realize this article is about physical likenesses but what about using someone's voice? Can Stephen Hawking sue all those cheezy voice-synthesizer games in the 80s for using his voice without his express written permission?

    GMD

  • I think typically what is done is that licenses are obtained from the major sports organizations, like the NBA, NFL, and so on. These licenses allow them to use the names and likenesses of any players that are officially in the league that organization owns. I suspect that when players sign up for a league that they sign some manner of contract that allows the leagues to do this. I'm not sure how it works for free agents, but one could assume something similar might be done. Assuming FIFA has something

  • "dark ages" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:39PM (#5837589)

    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.

    • I thought the "dark ages" comment was pretty silly, too.

      I mean in the USA, EA (and each other game company) bothers to get permission for name/likeness from the appropriate Players' Associations (and many other entities ... NBA, NFL, MLS, NCAA, Notre Dame University, Ford Field, Michael Jordan, to throw a few aquired licenses out there).

      Sure, they do so mostly out of fear of having their asses sued off in the USA. Now they have to wake up and do the same in other countries. This means they'll quit doing i
      • And for college sports games, they still aren't allowed to use team members' names. It's never really detracted from my enjoyment of NCAA Football 2003. For those players whose name I know, I recognize their jersey number just as easily.

        So I also agree: "dark ages" is a tad much

  • Could be a new market... (Score:3, Funny)

    by clambake ( 37702 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:39PM (#5837596) Homepage
    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.

    • Just make the names up. [kleimo.com]

      I'm sure Micheal Jordan is in there somewhere.

    • Michael Jordan is an example himself. In another post, I mentioned the Players' Assocations that release the likenesses and names for the players in a given sport, however, certain players opt not to be in the players association... The PA usually makes it so that athletes are paid fairly, get treated how they should, and have their opinions checked when a deal is going to be made with another team... Sports Stars, who know that they will be excellent--case in point, Michael Jordan, sometimes do not sign

  • 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."

    Dark Ages? Instead, this is a good thing. No one will mind much playing a game featuring the Dolphins or the Raiders in another ten years, but imagine playing a game fraturing the likes (pardon the pun) of Fran Tarkenton, Joe Namath, or O.J. Simpson?

    We are human. Our culture evolves. Comput

    • Wasn't there a game a few years ago that had every NFL team going back to 1921, so you could put the 1950 Cleveland Browns against the 1996 New England Patriots, playing by the AFL rules of the 1960's?

      IIRC, the game sucked (horrible play, horrible graphics, and unstable), but why doesn't someone take the concept?

      We could finally settle who the greatest running back in history was (my money's on either Barry Sanders or Jim Brown)!

    • Seriously, NBA, NFL, etc. make people pay for likeness rights, but we have plenty of good games with full likenesses.

      It is only fair to pay for use of someone's likeness unless the work is a reasonable parody.

      This is espescially true if the work is a reasonable parody of Strawberry shotcake and American McGee.

  • They shoot, he scores ... TOOOOOOOOOORT! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by watchful.babbler ( 621535 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @04:43PM (#5837633) Homepage Journal
    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! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by 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 gettin
    • Yes. The "something more" is that EA had a licensing agreement in place with the Bundesliga that they evidently assumed would give them some limited right to use the likenesses of the players therein.

      There was some mention in the article that if there ends up being damages declared that EA has to pay, they will in turn sue Bundesliga to recoup.
  • For a while, the EA NBA games had the permission of the NBA Players Association, but not of Michael Jordan (not sure why he had separate permission). All of the players in the NBA were there. Except the starting shooting guard of the Chicago Bulls was an unnamed player wearing jersey #99.

  • Golcen Age (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @05:09PM (#5837853) Homepage Journal
    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.
  • I remember taking PHI and HOU to the championship in every football game, well, every game that had them. Remember, some games didnt even have all the teams!! Still, HOU QB#1 and PHI QB#12 were the best in whatever game I played.
  • He's just upset because EA didn't make him a god in the game. They show him for what he is, an above average keeper. If he had the skills in real life he would have had them in the game. Kahn's always been a dick anyway and he's still bitter about getting his ass beat in the last world cup.
  • It won't be a problem because most major sports games license all of the members of a particular leagues players association. The only time they run into trouble is when a player isn't actually a member and they get used anyways (some sports card makers have run into this and have gotten sued). This is why in madden 2003 the best linebacker on the Washington redskins is only known as Linebacker 56, good ole LaVar Arrington isn't a member of the players association.
    • I think that this isn't a problem that EA didn't contact the player association, but rather more a whinny superstar issue. Just like Michael Jordan and a couple NFL quarterbacks, Kahn is probably just removing his likeness from the blanket rights the player association is allowed to sell, so that he can charge the game companies above and beyond what they already pay.

      I always thought that if the superstar was going to be such a money grubbing pig, the game company should just take that player out entirely

  • Licensing would never become a serious concern for sports gamers. North American Sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, etc) all have some sort of players union (NFLPA, for instance). The Unions are the ones who sign away the likenesses of the players, not the leagues themselves, and any serious sports game developer would realize how crucial it is to have the likenesses of the athletes that they feature, and pay any amount of money to the Players Associations/Unions in order to use their actual names. If anybody

  • Another example... (Score:2, Informative)

    by jayoyayo ( 650349 )
    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... Winn
  • So what's the big deal, get the players permission. If they don't get it their picture shouldn't be in the game.
  • I doubt it'll darken too many days, since licensing the legal right to use the names, images, logos, etc. of professional sports teams and their players is the common practice, not the exception. What I wish is that they'd bring on the ability to import your own face, etc. into games. They were planning on providing such an ability back when Perfect Dark (N64) was new, but it was canceled due to political reasons. I suppose the political reasons still exist for games of that genre, but it would also be a
  • This is all about our dear sir Oliver Kahn trying to swindle money out of something he has nothing to do with. Yes they used his name and likeness, along with everyone elses'. The developer surely licensed this stuff from a players' association because we all know it's more fun when you have real names and faces to relate to. Who would you rather play hockey as ? Joe Sakic or Joe Blow ? Now this poor german fellow just wants more money than he's entitled to, like every other big name involved in a laws
  • Each major sport has a Players Assosciation (Union): NHLPA (hockey), MLBPA (baseball), etc. If you pay them for the rights, you have the rights, nothing more to it.
  • Oh, you mean when they had to concentrate on making the games balanced, fun and enjoyable, rather than who can make the prettiest facial graphics for the gloating-after-the-goal cinematic...?

    Sign me up for NES "Ice Hockey [flyingomelette.com]" any day. ;) No, that's not an example of a *good* hockey game, but it was enjoyable. Blades of Steel was a bit better.
  • There is a very clever way to avoid these license kind of things with names. We all know EA Fifa is already having (and of course keeps building) a nice fan (half-mod making) community.

    The company can simply release the game without any player names at all!! Beginning from the next day, all these half-moders[0] will release TONS of roster packs and stuff that put all the correct names for the players :> Plain and Simple.

    [0] For me they are half-moders because EA hasn't officialy released a SDK and beca
  • If anyone has played any of the old basketball games Micheal Jordan was never in any of them. He was always Shooting Guard #23 Chicago Bulls. Thats how they got around that.
  • THAT IS IN SOCIALIST GERMANY!!!
    In America if they get you out in public (some hermit slashdotters need not to worry about the following) you can be shot(likeness) and sold without your permission. Therefore video games with real players in Free America.

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