Don’t try to get over on Bill Russell. Apparently, he was more than just a very smart basketball player.
William “Bill” Russell, the former National Basketball Association star center for the Boston Celtics, accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association in an antitrust complaint of selling videos using his likeness without paying him or seeking his consent.
The lawsuit is the latest to claim the NCAA violates federal antitrust laws by keeping former student basketball and football athletes from receiving compensation for the commercial use of their images and likeness. The association has denied wrongdoing in those cases.
Electronic Arts Inc., the second-largest U.S. video game maker, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Russell accuses it of using his image in a “Tournament of Legends” feature on an NCAA basketball video game.
Source: bloomberg.com
