I suppose these are the things you concern yourself with when you're a Browns fan and don't have much else to be excited about. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, John "Big Dawg" Thompson, a prominent member of the Dawg Pound, sued Electronic Arts "after he found out the 'Madden NFL 09' video game released last year, featured a fan at Cleveland Browns Stadium who resembles the costume he had been wearing to Browns games for the last 25 years. The case was transferred to U.S. District Court in August."
The complaint filed by Thompson's lawyer indicates that, in Madden 09, "Cleveland Browns Stadium includes animated fans that features a character dressed unmistakably as Big Dawg, with a distinctive pop-eyed and heavily jowled dog-face mask and orange hard hat."
Since EA never asked permission to use the character, Thompson was seeking a minimum $25,000. That sounds, well, litigious.
There is a happy ending, it turns out. Thompson's lawyer thinks the suit will be resolved in the coming weeks, though it's not clear what changed his mind (maybe some of the comments on the Plain Dealer story).
If Browns' fans are looking to sue somebody, owner Randy Lerner always seems like a safe choice. Of course, Cleveland outlasted Buffalo last week for its first win of the season, so maybe things are finally looking up. Between Derek Anderson's Hall of Fame performance and the Browns' new high-powered offense, the sky's the limit. And by "sky" I mean "four wins this season." Obviously.
via KSK
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-15-2009 @ 2:20PM
djanyreason said...
Big Dawg has a case. EA is using his likeness for their economic advantage without first securing his permission. That's a prima facie case in tort for invasion of privacy. My guess is it'll be settled this week because EA knows it f'd up and is going to pay him off to avoid legal fees.
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