(06-22-2013 02:49 AM)CPslograd Wrote: (06-22-2013 12:40 AM)quo vadis Wrote: Let's face it: Ed O'Bannon only filed this lawsuit because his NBA career was a flop and he didn't make the millions he thought he was going to make playing pro basketball.
Funny thing is, even if his lawsuit is successful, he won't make much money off of it, only his lawyers will.
So you think people at the NCAA should get paid their salaries and benefits partially by selling video games with his likeness on it without paying him royalties? That's how the whole thing started btw.
The whole thing started when his NBA career failed. He noticed that his likeness was being used in 1995 but didn't file suit until much later, after his lousy pro career ended and he had to become a car salesman after being pressured by his wife:
"There was an angry admonishment from Rosa -- "Get a job . . . or else" --".
http://www.webcitation.org/5xCB3dePi
This is similar to Sam Keller, the former Nebraska QB who sued the NCAA after failing to make the NFL.
FWIW, I do think college players should be paid royalties if private companies like EA Sports use their likenesses in their video games. But it's pretty clear these guys sued only after they failed to cash in like they thought they would in the pros.
This case is very similar to the case filed by Fred Dryer and other former NFL players against NFL Films for the use of their likenesses in NFL video games and the like. These players are opposing a proposed settlement because they aren't going to personally get a ton of money. As the Federal Judge overseeing the case said:
“It bears repeating: the individuals who originally brought this lawsuit and who now oppose the settlement rode into court on the banner of saving their downtrodden brethren, those who had played in the N.F.L. yet today were penniless and, often, suffering from injuries or illnesses directly related to their playing days,” Magnuson wrote when approving the settlement in April. “It is the height of disingenuousness for these same plaintiffs to now complain, like children denied dessert, that the settlement does not benefit enough the individuals who brought the lawsuit.”
We will probably see the same with O'Bannon et al.