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Received an email about a class action lawsuit against EA Sports?

owlbeak

Member
I did a quick search, looked a few pages back and saw nothing so mock/lock/delete if old and redirect to appropriate thread. I just received this email dated April 6, 2011, is this a scam or what the fuck does this even mean?

GEOFFREY PECOVER and ANDREW OWENS v. ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.
U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.)
Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW

If You Purchased Certain Electronic Arts Brand Football Video Games
Between January 1, 2005 to the Present
You May Be a Class Member.

Membership as a class member in the Electronic Arts Litigation is the result of a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division (Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW).

What Is This Class Action About?
The class action lawsuit alleges violations of California's antitrust and consumer protection laws in connection with the sale of certain football video games. Plaintiffs, purchasers of Electronic Arts' football video games, claim that Defendant Electronic Arts entered into a series of exclusive licenses with the National Football League (NFL), National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and Arena Football League (AFL), which Plaintiffs claim foreclosed competition in an alleged football video game market. Plaintiffs allege that this series of exclusive licenses caused customers who purchased certain football video games to be overcharged.
Defendant Electronic Arts has denied any liability and all allegations of misconduct. The Court has not decided whether the Defendants did anything wrong, and this Notice is not an expression of any opinion by the Court about the merits of any of the claims or defenses asserted by any party to this litigation.

Who Are Class Members?
The Class includes all persons who, during the period January 1, 2005 to the present, purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football League brand video games published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005 to the present. Excluded from the class are purchasers of software for mobile devices, persons purchasing directly from Electronic Arts, persons purchasing used copies of the relevant football video games, and Electronic Arts' employees, officers, directors, legal representatives, and wholly or partly owned subsidiaries or affiliated companies.

What Should I Do? (Getting Further Information)
If you believe that you may be a class member (see above "Who Are Class Members"), you should get more detailed information about the class action and its potential effect on you and your rights. Further information can be obtained by going to the following website: www.easportslitigation.com. Additional information about the lawsuit may be obtained from Plaintiffs' Counsel website at www.hbsslaw.com, or by calling Plaintiffs' Counsel at 1-206-623-7292.

To Remain a Class Member
If you are a class member and you do nothing, you will be bound by the court's rulings in the lawsuit, including any final Settlement or Judgment.

To Exclude Yourself from the Class
(Deadline to Request Exclusion: June 25, 2011)
If you are a class member and you want to exclude yourself from the class and keep your right to sue Defendant, you must take further action before June 25, 2011. By that date, you must request exclusion in writing to this address:
Electronic Arts Litigation Exclusion
P.O. Box 8090
San Rafael CA 94912-8090

Or submit a request for exclusion electronically at the following website: www.easportslitigation.com

For further information about excluding yourself from the class go to the following website:
www.easportslitigation.com

Please do not telephone or address inquiries to the Court.
April 6, 2011. By Order of the U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.).
 
I got the email too, it's completely retarded. Some people have too much time on their hands.

I hate Madden nowadays and don't like the direction EA has taken the franchise but to say that the exclusive license has caused people to be "overcharged" for the game is ridiculous. I guess the meat of their argument stems from when 2K only charged $20 for NFL2K5 to try to undercut Madden's sales. 2K would have charged $60 for every 2K football game after that year, especially now this gen with the astronomical cost to make a console game.
 

owlbeak

Member
Personally I don't give a shit either way. EA's football games are no more than an updater roster year after year for the most part. I need to get paid
that $5
, son!
 
Horsebite said:
Personally I don't give a shit either way. EA's football games are no more than an updater roster year after year for the most part. I need to get paid
that $5
, son!

more like $1.39
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
i agree with the lawsuit for the simple reason that EA didn't just get exclusive rights to the NFL, they literally bought the rights to every other named football organization in the country, and in many cases is doing absolutely nothing with them. it's a clear antitrust problem.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Yeah, I just got the same E-mail...WTF, is this just another weak attempt for a lawyer to make himself some money? The rates they charged for the MAdden series and all the others were in-line with every other game on the market, WTF?
 

JesseZao

Member
Got the email as well. I actually did get Madden 11 for $20 this last year because of getting into fantasy football so much. Otherwise, NFL 2k5 was the last football game I purchased.

Supposedly it was the NFL's fault that EA got the contract anyway, since they thought the $20 "strategy/stunt" cheapened their brand.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
they probably got the email addresses from your ea account; they likely got a list during the early days of the lawsuit.
 

Emitan

Member
If I release an underperforming platformer can I sue Nintendo for having exclusive access to the Mario license because only a Mario game will sell record numbers? No? Then why does this case exist? The NFL gave EA rights to their name, just like Nintendo holds the rights to Mario. What is the difference?

EDIT: Oh, it's about overcharging. Charging standard price is overcharging?
 

Plasmid

Member
So wait, is this saying anyone who bought the game will get a share of anything eat willl be forced to pay should that ruling set?

Confused.
 

udivision

Member
Billychu said:
EDIT: Oh, it's about overcharging. Charging standard price is overcharging?
In a completely different context, I'd say yes. I've never bought a $60 game before, at least. But that's not what you're saying.
 

Emitan

Member
udivision said:
In a completely different context, I'd say yes. I've never bought a $60 game before, at least. But that's not what you're saying.
I'm all for suing companies for colluding together and raising the prices of games. It's completely bullshit, but so is this EA case so we might as well.
 

MechaX

Member
What do you know... The day we go over Class Action suits at school (and go over the issue of how some attorneys "ambulance chase" certain class actions) is the day I get the chance to really read a first-hand good example of a lot of things wrong with the suit. Thanks GAF!

Plasmid said:
So wait, is this saying anyone who bought the game will get a share of anything eat willl be forced to pay should that ruling set?

Confused.

At extreme cases, the people in the class get some minor discount. The named plaintiffs might get some cash too. Usually, any judgment against EA in this situation will just go right back into attorney fees.
 
Got this e-mail in the middle of the night, pretty bad when your first thought is wow this is some pretty creative phishing scam.
 
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