File this one under "Get over yourself you washed up former running back."Jim Brown, a former star running back for the Cleveland Browns, is suing Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) because a football player on the All-Browns team in a video game wears his number and looks like him. He's seeking an injunction and unspecified damages to punish the company for "taking a free ride on the trade value" of his name.
Oh please. Mr. Brown, no one is going to buy or not buy a video games because it contains or doesn't contain your likeness. The "trade value" of your name is precisely zero. Somewhere between starring in The Dirty Dozen, serving as an announcer for Ultimate Fighting, and numerous arrests related to assault and spousal abuse, people just kind of lost interest.
This isn't a material event for Sony or Electronic Arts, but it's an interesting tale of the long half-life of a former star's ego. It's also a great waste of the legal system's resources.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-01-2008 @ 4:25PM
Louie said...
Jim Brown, former Football Player, and current racist/female beater/O.J. Wannabe, except he doesn't have a knife, needs to get a life!!!
8-01-2008 @ 10:39PM
Superdynamite said...
Change the number with a firmware update. Jim doesn't want a little free publicity. Another of many in a long line of dumb decisions.
8-01-2008 @ 11:43PM
Ed said...
Who is that YOUNG man on the fb card ?
Damn, you could at least use a current photo of Jim Browns wrinkled old a$$
8-02-2008 @ 12:55AM
winston said...
don't be so quick to talk ****, Zac----there is such a thing as intellectual property law--PS:
that includes 'electronic reproduction of unique imagery."
Look it up.
he might actually win.
8-04-2008 @ 9:06AM
Mike said...
Well, let's face it, if your going to have a All Browns Team, you sure as hell better have Jim Brown on it. Sounds pretty stupid if they did not get his permission to have it on there these days. And by the way, to Ed on another post, I bet you would never talk to Jim that way to his face. And while your at it Sony and EA Spoprts, you might want to also change your All NFL Team as well, I sure hope your not dumb enough to not put Jim Brown on that as well. When you talk of running backs in the NFL or any other league, Jim Brown just happens to be the very best if you break it all down.