A similar lawsuit went down not long ago where retired NFL players had their likenesses unlawfully used in Madden NFL games. The plaintiffs in that case won their suit to the tune of $28.1 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

The plaintiff in this case is Samuel Keller, a former quarterback at Arizona State and Nebraska. Keller claims in his 24 page complaint that the NCAA let EA use college athletes' likenesses as part of some agreement between EA and the NCAA that "intentionally circumvents the prohibitions on utilizing student athletes' names in commercial ventures by allowing gamers to upload entire rosters, which include players' names and other information, directly into the game in a matter of seconds."

His proof: EA's game, NCAA 2009, features several randomly generated characters such as Arizona State's "Quarterback No. 9" and Nebraska's "Quarterback No. 5" which bear a strong resemblance to Keller. Ergo, they're not randomly generated and somebody owes Keller money.

SFWeekly reports:

The suit goes on to state that the NCAA's own bylaw 12.5 prohibits the commercialization of a student athlete's "name, picture, or likeness." The athletes themselves must even sign an affidavit confirming they "read and understand" this rule regarding the maintaining of their amateur status.

So it rankled Keller to note that "with rare exception, virtually every real-life Division I football or basketball player in the NCAA has a corresponding player in Electronic Arts' games with the same jersey number, and virtually identical height, weight, build and home state. In addition Electronic Arts often matches the player's, skin tone, hair color, and often even a player's hair style."

"The motivation of the Defendants is simple: more money," the complaint says. It closes by demanding a jury trial, actual, statutory and punitive damages as well as disgorgement of all profits EA earned from the games featuring NCAA players. Plus it wants all copies of the games seized and destroyed.

Man, EA is not having much luck with legal matters lately.

Jocks Vs. Nerds: Former College QB Sues NCAA, Videogame Company Over Use of Athletes' Names and Likenesses [SFWeekly via GamePolitics]

On April 6th of this year, Valve was awarded a $2,391,932 judgment against Activision as the result of a 2002 lawsuit against Sierra Online. The original lawsuit, which we reported on way back in 2004, involved Sierra distributing Valve software at cyber cafes, which led to Sierra preventing Valve from letting players unlock Half-Life 2 early. Speaking for gamers as a whole, Sierra totally deserved to lose if only for that fact. Having merged with Sierra parent Vivendi in 2008, Activision inherited the case and therefore the judgment.

They just don't want to pay the whole thing.

Citing previous overpayments of $424,136, Activision issued a check for $1,967,796, which is the judgment minus the supposed overpayments. Valve, understandably unhappy about this, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in order to secure the full amount.

According to the lawsuit, Valve claims that Activision informed them that they would not pay the full amount, and would counter-sue if Valve took them back to court. Now Valve has done just that.

Valve is seeking the full amount of the original judgment, as well as a court declaration stating that Activision cannot pursue additional compensation based on agreements that have long since been terminated.

Now we grab some popcorn, kick back, and wait for Activision to counter-sue. Good times.

It's Ugly: Valve Sues Activision, Activision Threatens to Sue Valve [Game Politics]

Crafted lovingly by Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright, measure A01474 would prohibit underage sales of games that promoted racial stereotypes or negative actions towards specific groups. The wording, exactly:

Prohibits the sale to minors of certain rated video games containing a rating that reflects content of various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons.

Oh my god...this man wants to keep our children from playing Final Fantasy VII! Damn you, Barrett!

Really though, isn't this a redundant sort of bill? You don't get many games that portray young black men as gang bangers coming out with T for Teen ratings. Besides, who decides what a stereotype is? Does the game B-Boy fall under this law because it depicts minorities as break dancers? It's too general. Probably too general to pass.

According to Game Politics, Wright tried to pass a similar bill in 2007, which failed. Poor guy.

Bill Summary - A01474 [New York Assembly via Game Politics]

"This is the same technology the armed forces use to help soldiers kill the enemy," said state Sen. Leland Yee, the San Francisco Democrat who wrote the legislation. "All we're saying is, 'Don't sell it to kids.' "

I predict this appeal will get them absolutely nowhere, though I suppose we can't fault them for using taxpayers' money to check back every now and then, just in case the Constitution changed while we weren't looking.

California violent-video-game law faces showdown in federal appeals court [Mercury News via Gamasutra]