NBA legend sues EA, NCAA

It's not all about the money, It's about the principal. EA is MAKING money off of him. Why shouldn't he get compensated?

We can talk about how greedy atheletes are or aren't but bottom line is he has the right to not want others to make money off of him and not profit as well. You can pretty much quit all the talk about him doing this because he needs the dough, too. I sincerely doubt he needs the money, being who he is; Bill Russell probably gets paid just to show up to an event and just wave for a few seconds and leave.

You people saying "oh he just needs more money'' are not smart. if someone took your image and what you did as a skill and exploited it without as so much giving you credit you'd be mad too. i would be. the NCAA needs to be brought up on charges of slavery

When will these lawsuits stop. They never win and always are thrown out of court because the law is on EAs side. As News, Views, Opinions, Statements, art, Comedy,(Parodies) are covered under the first amendment, All they have to say is that EA is making fun of you, Painting you (Texture Graphic is 3D art) and bam Covered under the Law, which you can't sue for. http://www.pastapadre.com/2011/09/12/one-ncaa-player-likeness-lawsuit-ends-in-eas-favor

@meet98 Thanks for your relevant and meaningful input.

i love football and baseball less basketball

I love sports but pro athletes are scum.

He is entitled to royalties just like everybody else. Why should EA benefit and make all the money and he should not be entitled to it. You go Bill!

He must need the money

Did he just now play a 3 year-old game?

Everybody should sue EA!

Sounds like Russell and his family need mo money, mo money...

Bill.... if u really the need money sell one of your 11 rings. That will do it.

i hate copywrite laws....need a new copyrite law..after 5 years your copywrited likenesses or trademarks or games, movie, music should be void and open game. The makers of bags of chips cant claim on a bag of chips thats 5 years old, so why the hell should your song, movie, book or player likeness get special treatment? BILL RUSSLE IS LOADED...he doesnt need the money.

Another sports player looking for more money. Anything new here?

he should collect big money. they shouldnt use any players likeness without their permission. what if they just stuck his face on the case? they are making money off him so pay the man

ummm EA cannot get sued for this..... ncaa can. some people are just stupid, NCAA makes money from this and does not pay its athletes there are contract in place. EA contracts state the same stuff PLAYERS DON'T GET PAID. To fix this you need to change the whole way NCAA works which is good imo as they are exploiting their students for money. But EA has nothing to do with this.

@ -Fromage- EA should be happy they're going to get away with that.. They did not have his permission, they can't complain about it at all, unfortunately.

What's an NBA?

go eat your cheese

He should feel happy they chose him.

@InfamousPhilthy Yeah,they suck a lot,I never had any respect for them,I admit,they made some good games,but they are very evil,they started with online passes,and are slowly destroying great studios they own,like Bioware,just to name a few things.There is more.I could somehow live with all that,untill they came up with Origin spyware.They crossed the line completely,and arent getting any more money from me.

Honestly, I don't think he should get anything. If he were to get paid for appearing in an NBA game, all the other players would have to also, including thousands of retired players. Same would go for all the other thousands of professional sports players. And on and on. Bill Russell isn't special. If that were true, you could say goodbye to any form of sports video game, trading card, video, etc. I don't know about you guys, but Mario at the Olympics wouldn't cut it for me.

@the_requiem That's the first thing I thought of when I started reading this.

To those saying how NCAA can't be compensated, well, they can't be, doesn't mean they shouldn't be. NCAA makes all the money while athletes get nothing.

I am with all athletes on this one. For anyone who doesn't understand, watch South Park's Crack Baby Basketball episode.

To Rocker6 I'm with you brother. EA is no more than a bunch of trash talking wannabe's. I lost total respect for them when they began this foolish fight with activision. Anyway go get'em Bill!

Good,sue EA,I hope they lose,I hate them.You have my support on this one.They are the biggest cancer of gaming,I would say,even worse than Activi$ion.

He needs the money.

Why are players always b****ing about this? If I was a NBA legend I'd personally feel honored to have my likeness in the game. Besides if he's a legend shouldn't he be pretty rich? So why does he need to be compensated? Greedy b***ard.

Do people not realize what a contract is? You forgo most of your image rights when you sign a contract with the NBA or play in the NCAA. Moreover, NCAA players cannot be compensated.

There's a lot of dislikeness from people who have their likeness in music or sports games.

But he's already a millionaire....

Well its EA so I'm with Bill.

@Philly1UPer How many millions do you think they made playing college basketball in the 50s?

Remember that one time when the rich weren't greedy? Me neither...

@freedomspopular it takes time for things like this to start. he could have started it in 2009 and now its becoming more official to fall through.

any money EA has to pay off will be made up come december

I'm pretty sure he's going to win awesome lawsuit!

I agree with this lawsuit! Lol he's gonna win, and EA's gonna lose serious $$$

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@EpicNoobOwnage You probably shouldn't have began and ended your statement with "LoL" or have misspelled submit by saying "summit". This makes you look a lot worse, just some words of advice before you start a little response battle. Also, due to the complications and stature of this case it probably end in either a good amount of cash and/or policy resettlement.

He's sueing the greedy scumbags at EA so hes got my support

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good I hate Ea.

I swear he tried to sue somebody for the same thing like ten years ago. Dude, get a job as a Walmart greeter if you're that hard up for cash.

Sounds like a greedy has-been, but the law is the law.

I like how these people always sue like 2 or 3 years after the fact. It obviously hasn't been hurting you, so why make an issue of it now?