Pro Football HOFer Jim Brown on Monday settled with Electronic Arts for $600,000 after he "alleged that the company used his likeness in its Madden NFL games series without his consent," according to Mike Murphy of QUARTZ. In the "Madden" franchise, players "are able to select historic and all-star teams, as well as contemporary football teams." This includes a version of the '65 Browns team that Brown was a member of. Brown said that he "refused to release his likeness for EA to use in this team." But his legal team in a statement said EA "nonetheless created an avatar in the game that mimicked" Brown's attributes. The character "wore number 37, instead of his regular 32, and didn’t have his name" (QZ.com, 6/27). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted the $600,000 payment represents a "significant sum to EA." Sources said that the "Madden" cover athlete "gets paid less than $500,000 for the endorsement every year." Law firm Hagens Berman, which repped Brown, was also part of a team that "represented NCAA players to which EA paid out" a $60M settlement fee for "use of their likenesses, without their permission, in games" from '03-14 (ESPN.com, 6/28).
