I am not sure player names and statistics are actually protected though. So it’s more 250m/year to get access to branding like team logos, FIFA on the box, etc.
No its 250m for FIFA and World Cup. All the leagues/teams come from individual contracts with each league and all the players from a contract with FIFPro (International Federation of Professional Footballers) which they just renewed. Basically FIFA wants a huge amount of money for the name FIFA on the box.
Football is not like NFL or NBA where you just make a single contract with the league and you get everything. Instead you have to go and make a lot of contracts all over the place. The system is just much more fragmented.
Basically EA could just not pay this money to FIFA and call the game EA Football or something and have all the same content except the FIFA name on the box and the world cup (and the national teams that come with it)
Putting FIFA on the box is clearly covered by trademark law.
I was questioning how much of protection does player statistics have. At least in the US factual information like who’s playing in which team isn’t protected by copyright or trademark.
It's not their stats that have protection, it's their likeness and names that require a license to use. Several games in the past have featured real rosters with fake names to get around this.
Likeness presumably, but fantasy football doesn’t run into a problem with player names. So while companies would get sued over names it seems like they would also likely win.
That said, graphics are at a point where player likeness is meaningful as is team jerseys. So customers would presumably prefer the licensed product.
I don't think it's really been tested legally, but during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, there were a handful of (strikebreakers') names that the players' association got replaced in games.
Fantasy football is dealing in statistics. Using a persons name in your game implies they endorse your game, the players associations manage this stuff pretty closely.
Player names are trademarked the same way Louis Vuitton is trademarked as a brand.
For famous players, that may even mean they can introduce brand names that otherwise would be ruled confusing. You can’t start selling Louis Vuiton bags, but Messi clothing and shoes won a legal battle against the older Massi brand (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54193973)
Trademark protects from confusion in the marketplace not all use. Pepsi can’t successfully sue CNN because someone being interviewed was drinking a soda.
That said, using the names would definitely get you sued but at 250m/year a court case could be worth it.
Players definitely trademark their names, but fantasy football leagues don’t have a problem using their real names.
So while I suspect having the correct number on an in game jersey might run into issues simply linking team names, player names, and player statistics is just factual information.
Football is not like NFL or NBA where you just make a single contract with the league and you get everything. Instead you have to go and make a lot of contracts all over the place. The system is just much more fragmented.
Basically EA could just not pay this money to FIFA and call the game EA Football or something and have all the same content except the FIFA name on the box and the world cup (and the national teams that come with it)