EA files motion to dismiss latest NCAA suit

EA has filed for a motion to dismiss the most recent complaint brought against it in the litigation war surrounding college football.

The antitrust filing centres on the uncompensated use of the likenesses of real college athletes in EA Sports’s college franchise.

The latest suit was filed by a group of athletes, both current and former, who claim the NCAA and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) licensed their likenesses without compensation to EA.

The new filing (via Gamasutra) claims the plaintiffs plead “no facts to support their theory that Electronic Arts Inc. participated in an antitrust conspiracy with the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing company".

“All [the complaint] alleges is that EA agreed to follow the NICAA’s rules regarding using student athletes’ names and likenesses. That is not a viable antitrust claim.”

EA is petitioning for a motion to dismiss in spite of the presiding judge’s recent ruling that bars the defendants from filing further motions for dismissal.

This isn’t stopping the company’s lawyers, who argue the company has a right to test the “legal sufficiency” of being named in the suit.