WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hausfeld LLP announces that videogame manufacturer Electronic Arts, Inc. ("EA") has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to current and former student-athletes, resolving its liability in a lawsuit brought by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon.
"This is a historic settlement," said lead attorney Michael Hausfeld. "This settlement represents an acknowledgment that the NCAA's rules barring payment to current and former players cannot stand."
The settlement leaves the NCAA as the sole defendant in O'Bannon's antitrust case, which alleges a conspiracy by the NCAA and its member schools, to license and sell the names, images, and likeness of current and former student-athletes without compensation to those student-athletes. The NCAA and its co-conspirators have collectively reaped billions of dollars in revenue from the license and sale of game footage, video games, photographs, apparel, trading cards, and other memorabilia containing the names, images, and likenesses of current and former student-athletes without paying a cent to those whose names, images, and likenesses were used. A decision by the judge as to whether to certify the class is pending.
Hausfeld LLP attorneys working on the case are: Michael Hausfeld, Michael Lehmann, Hilary Scherrer, Sathya Gosselin, and Bruce Wecker.
About Hausfeld LLP
Hausfeld LLP, led by industry doyen Michael Hausfeld, is widely recognized as one of the leading and best-known claimant law firms in the world. It is at the forefront of numerous innovative legal actions that are expanding the quality and availability of legal recourse for aggrieved individuals and businesses around the world.
The partners of Hausfeld LLP have obtained numerous landmark judgments and settlements for individuals and businesses, and have been champions for the private enforcement of competition and antitrust laws globally for almost four decades.
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