Labelled a landmark decision, a U.S. federal judge has approved a 60 million dollar
settlement for college athletes in a class-action lawsuit filed against the NCCA college sports association and the video game maker Electronics Arts, whose founder and chairman is Larry Probst, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. According to Steve Berman, a Seattle-based lawyer for the plaintiffs, Claudia Wilken, a United States District Court judge for the Northern District of California, has approved the settlement. The plaintiffs in the case against the NCAA and Electronics Arts claimed that college football and basketball players’ names and likenesses were illegally used in video games for years.
“This landmark decision marks the first time student-athletes will be paid for the likeness or image, and stands as a huge victory in the ongoing fight for student-athletes’ rights,” lawyer Berman said in statement. As reported by The Associated Press, Berman said the maximum an individual could claim from the settlement was 7,026 Dollars. Players who have appeared in the company’s NCAA football and basketball games have until July 31 to make claims as part of the settlement. NCAA series video games were discontinued in 2013 because of pending legal cases against the NCAA regarding the use of athletes’ names, images and likenesses.
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Sport Intern.