I'm not sure if this was discussed but would 2K get sued if they did this?

[City Boy]

I think for 2k 9 they should Create players that were physically like the ones already in the league and change the names slightly? Such as Frank Core for Frank Gore, Ron Grady for Tom Brady. Give them all the same attributes as the NFL versions. Is that legal? Everybody would know who the players are supposed to be but it saves them from not having to get permission. I think that would have been a better move than actually putting legends in the game.

[tpaterniti]

They would get sued so fast it wouldn't even be funny. Nice try.

[Mnvic19]

I think for 2k 9 they should Create players that were physically like the ones already in the league and change the names slightly? Such as Frank Core for Frank Gore, Ron Grady for Tom Brady. Give them all the same attributes as the NFL versions. Is that legal? Everybody would know who the players are supposed to be but it saves them from not having to get permission. I think that would have been a better move than actually putting legends in the game.
That would be a very lame attempt in my opinion and 2K wouldn't be as unique as it should be. I would be disappointed in 2K if they ever try to replicate the NFL in that way.

[City Boy]

Whats lame about it and why would they get sued exactly? It's no more lame than playing opponents with the same exact players you have. Thats even worse. Now we can clone All Pro's? Thats wack.

[Soodmeg]

They would get sued so fast it wouldn't even be funny. Nice try.


No they wouldnt. In fact EA couldnt do a thing about it if they did decide to do this.

Pro Evo Soccer has been doing this for about 8 years plus now....because EA owns the rights to Fifa so only they can have offical soccer teams in the game.


I have spent many years changing names like Fraddie Adoo to Freddy Adu. Changing staduim names to the proper names and such. And everyone who is invovled in soccer knows Merside Red is Manchester United.

So to answer your question. Yes...yes they could come out with a game that just had skewed version of real NFL player names but they would have to be almost unreconizeable in order to get away with it. All they would have to do is make allow you to change the names of everything in the game.

There is a loophole for everything.


BUT....I dont think take 2 wants to do this. They want to make their own game that stands on its own legs if they dont all they can do is follow EA around.

[sly_madman]

Whats lame about it and why would they get sued exactly? It's no more lame than playing opponents with the same exact players you have. Thats even worse. Now we can clone All Pro's? Thats wack.

They can sue if it's similar enough to be considered beyond a resemblance.

[NTq]

They would get sued so fast it wouldn't even be funny. Nice try.

The same way EA got sued a few years back when they had a player on the Giants (in Bonds place because he is not a part of the MLBPA) that had Barry's exacts stats and they even made it so you could change the players name and number and the announcers would say Barry Bonds???

[City Boy]

Instead of Frank Core, have his number and give us the option to edit the players name.

that may be legal
That would work for me too. :thumbsup:

[Chop Stick]

if all pro wanted to do something like that.. all they have to do, is give players 100 percent creative freedom with logos and such. there's no way ea could sue.. because they'd have to sue the fans..

[City Boy]

if all pro wanted to do something like that.. all they have to do, is give players 100 percent creative freedom with logos and such. there's no way ea could sue.. because they'd have to sue the fans..
Only problem is that it would be very time consuming. I'd rather just have the fake name or number.

[Chop Stick]

nah it wouldnt.. because im sure people would eventually make it where u can download the whole pack of 32 logos.. like on smackdown people can trade wrestlers over the internet

u wanna make the eagles.. we got the colors.. all we need is the logo.. then all pro can give us an option to create a full team

[City Boy]

nah it wouldnt.. because im sure people would eventually make it where u can download the whole pack of 32 logos.. like on smackdown people can trade wrestlers over the internet

u wanna make the eagles.. we got the colors.. all we need is the logo.. then all pro can give us an option to create a full team
Didn't even think of that one. Hmmmm :cool:

[tpaterniti]

Judges are not stupid. Trust me, if they changed Frank Gore to Frank Core and did something similar to all the players, they would get sued and the plaintiffs would win because the judge would see that they were obviously referring to the players' real life counterparst. The decision would be in the hands of an intelligent human being, not some mindless machine, so that even if the names were not exactly the same, if it were obvious who the people were supposed to be they would be forced to pay. I am 100% sure of this.

[Darkheath]

A lot of misinformation going on in this thread.

No... they wouldn't be sued. Video games have been doing this for years. Ever since the beginning of sports games, as a matter of fact (especially small developer houses who make text-based sports games like Out of the Park Baseball). A very common example of this is NCAA 2008. That's exactly what they do. My RB #5 a few years ago was Reggie Bush... no doubts.

Anyway... the issue is not EA. They couldn't sue no matter what. It's the NFL, and right now 2K doesn't want to do anything to put themselves in a position to **** off the NFL in the hopes of getting the license back in a few years.

[Darkheath]

Judges are not stupid. Trust me, if they changed Frank Gore to Frank Core and did something similar to all the players, they would get sued and the plaintiffs would win because the judge would see that they were obviously referring to the players' real life counterparst. The decision would be in the hands of an intelligent human being, not some mindless machine, so that even if the names were not exactly the same, if it were obvious who the people were supposed to be they would be forced to pay. I am 100% sure of this.


Game makers have been doing this for years. How are you "100% sure of this"?

[tpaterniti]

Examples please.

[xrams]

Examples please.
tpat... I just want to say... your homer avi cracks me up each time I see you post...!!!!:D :D

[Darkheath]

Early versions of Hardball baseball. I think they got the license in HArdball '99.

Early Madden games had all of the cities, colors and numbers of the NFL but none of the licenses. You knew that green number 12 kicking your a.ss on all those sweep plays was Randall Cunningham, though.

Out of the Park Baseball is released every year with the player & team names changed. They are not as obvious as "Frank Core", but it's the same teams as they are rated at the beginning of the season.

The previously mentioned Pro Evo Football (Winning Eleven Soccer for us in the States) is a perfect example.

As I said, the NCAA series every year is also a great example.

A lot of the early sports games just didn't have the cash to shell out for licenses, so they just made what they could.

I would compare it to music licenses. A lot of people get around them by changing just a few notes of the music. You know... so that it kind of sounds like the Star Wars theme. Ya know?

[Soodmeg]

Examples please.

Dude...I just gave you an example


Pro Evo Soccer has been doing this TO EA for at least 8 years. EA owns the FIFA rights but Pro Evo just makes up a bunch of names and puts them in the game and allows players to edit virtually anything in the game. From team logos..to team colors...to players names...to staduim names....everything.



Trust me...they could do this if they wanted to.

[sly_madman]

Early versions of Hardball baseball. I think they got the license in HArdball '99.

Early Madden games had all of the cities, colors and numbers of the NFL but none of the licenses. You knew that green number 12 kicking your a.ss on all those sweep plays was Randall Cunningham, though.

As I said, the NCAA series every year is also a great example.

Except one thing. Madden always had the NFL license, but not the NFLPA. That's why they could do the Eagles with a QB 12 who played like Randall. They just couldn't put the name in. Same goes for NCAA. It's no secret that they try to emulate players, they just can't add names because of the stupid NCAA rule that doesn't allow players to be paid. The only game I can remember is the earlier EA college games (Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Walsh_College_Football)) that got away with it mainly because there wasn't a solid enough case to make out of it and they didn't exactly emulate players. Seriously, on one can copyright a city name and colors, and they could only put in colors back in the 16 bit days.

[tpaterniti]

tpat... I just want to say... your homer avi cracks me up each time I see you post...!!!!:D :D

He looks so thoughtful doesn't he.


Spider pig, spider pig...
Does whatever a spider pig does...
Can he swing from a web...
No he can't, he's a pig.

[tpaterniti]

Dude...I just gave you an example


Pro Evo Soccer has been doing this TO EA for at least 8 years. EA owns the FIFA rights but Pro Evo just makes up a bunch of names and puts them in the game and allows players to edit virtually anything in the game. From team logos..to team colors...to players names...to staduim names....everything.



Trust me...they could do this if they wanted to.

I didn't say they couldn't do generics. I said they couldn't make up player names that are only one letter removed from the original because it would be too obvious who the person was supposed to be. I was mostly talking about the names.