Pausing the Game: Take-Two Seeks to Pause WWE Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive has told an Illinois federal court that it wants to pause a tattoo artist’s copyright infringement lawsuit, as a ruling on a pending summary judgment motion could decide the case.

As we reported last year, tattoo artist Catherine Alexander filed a lawsuit against Take-Two and World Wrestling Entertainment, alleging that they infringed on her copyright. Between 2003 and 2008, Alexander created several unique tattoos for WWE superstar Randy Orton. While WWE allegedly offered Alexander $450,000 for the rights to use …

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Game On: FaZe Clan’s $20 Million Lawsuit Against eSports Gamer Will Continue

A federal judge will allow a $20 million contract lawsuit filed by FaZe Clan Inc. against a popular eSports star to proceed.

In May 2019, Fortnite player and social media celebrity, Turner Tenney, known to fans as “Tfue,” sued FaZe Clan, a popular eSports organization, in California state court. Tenney alleged that FaZe lured him and other gamers into “grossly oppressive, onerous and one-sided” contracts, allowing FaZe to make millions while Tenney earned a mere $60,000. He also filed a complaint with the California Labor …

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Tattoo Copyright Infringement? Judge Says Too Soon To Tell

On March 30, 2018, a federal judge denied a motion in defense of a video game producer’s use of tattoo designs in its basketball-themed games. As we have previously covered, Solid Oak Sketches LLC, the owner of eight copyrighted tattoos donned by several high profile NBA players, filed suit against video game producer and distributer, Take-Two Productions, for alleged infringement. Solid Oak purchased the designs directly from the tattoo artists, and offered to allow Take-Two to use them for $819,000, or perpetually for $1.14 …

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Judge Approves $60 Million Settlement in NCAA Video Game Case

On Thursday, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the proposed settlement agreement between the Sam Keller plaintiffs and the defendants, NCAA, EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC)—$20 million with the NCAA and $40 million with EA Sports and CLC.  In an attempt to avoid similar video game related liability in the O’Bannon case, the NCAA argued the $20 million settlement should cover any misappropriation of likeness claims arising from NCAA-branded video games, but Judge Wilken disagreed.  Her decision to handle the two similar cases separately would …

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