EA being sued over NFL, NCAA exclusivity deals

If the lawsuit succeeds, Madden NFL could have some competition again.

People love to hate EA, and gamers have been complaining about their exclusive licensing with the NFL and NCAA for years. In 2008, a group of consumers decided to do something about it and filed a class action lawsuit against the industry giant, arguing that the company's deals are "unlawful." The lawsuit has finally been approved and will head to court in the near future. Here is a brief overview:


Summary

-Customers of Electronic Arts Inc. have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Electronic Arts violated their rights under federal and California law.

-The Court has allowed the lawsuit to be a class action on behalf of all persons in the United States who purchased a new copy of an Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football videogame for Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, PC, or Wii, with a release date of January 1, 2005 to June 21, 2012.

-Electronic Arts has denied any liability and all allegations of misconduct.

Charges: “Through an unlawful and anticompetitive series of exclusive agreements with the National Football League, the NFL Players Union, Arena Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”), Electronic Arts has driven its competition out of the market for interactive football software, including most significantly Take Two Interactive Software, Inc., the maker of the interactive football software title NFL 2K5 and has prevented additional competitors from entering the market.”

Desired Result: “...the Settlement provides that Electronic Arts will not enter into an exclusive trademark license with the AFL for five years from the date of approval of the Settlement; and that Electronic Arts will not renew its current collegiate football trademark license with the CLC on an exclusive basis for five years after it expires in 2014; and that Electronic Arts will not seek any new exclusive trademark license for the purpose of making football videogames with the CLC, the NCAA, or any NCAA member institution covered by the current exclusive license for five years after the expiration of the current CLC agreement.”

If EA loses the case, it could open the doors for other developers to create their own NFL and NCAA branded sports games again. This is a very interesting turn of events, and we will be sure to report more on this as it develops.

Source: Dark Zero