Remember that dumbass lawsuit filed against Electronic Arts because they called a gun “the Dillinger” in the two Godfather games? Yeah, that one didn’t go so well. The family of the Depression-era gangster lost their case in federal court.
Back in 2009, the grandson of Dillinger’s half sister threatened to sue EA unless they paid him “millions of dollars” for putting his ancestor’s name on the weapon, which resembled Thompson submachine guns. EA, which only pays in the low six figures for the Madden cover star, said bring it, and so it all went to court.
A judge in Indiana said that, no, the Dillinger descendant was not entitled to any moolah, as the Indiana law regarding a person’s publicity rights, or his estate’s, was enacted after Dillinger died.
But the big oh-by-the-way here is, even if it was, the judge said EA’s use of the Dillinger name on the weapon was speech protected by the First Amendment, as Dillinger has a popular culture association with firearms like the one bearing his name in the game.
Dillinger Kin Lose Claim Against Video Game Company [The Times of Northwest Indiana]
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