thesmokinggun.com — Along with a sweeping management reorganization and shrinking stock price, Yahoo! also has to contend with a lawsuit filed against it by the gridiron's golden boy, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who claims that the online giant improperly used his image to promote its fantasy football game.
Dec 7, 2006 View in Crawl 4
toperDec 7, 2006
Yahoo did cover their butts...they have a a deal with the NFLPA, who holds the licensing rights when 6 or more players are used in an advert:<a class="user" href="http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NFL&id=1163">http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NFL&id=1163</a>
mv10Dec 8, 2006
Big Blunder by Yahoo! Brady will win this lawsuit just like he wins in the postseason. In other news, the new Tom Brady; Tony Romo wouldnt sue Yahoo!. Tony Romo would demand money
tabrisDec 8, 2006
Explain how a taxpayer loses from a person suing a company?
ihatepeterhDec 8, 2006
are you retarded? or did you get tom brady mixed up with peyton manning? for future reference, if you want to tell them apart, look at their hands. tom brady's hands are covered in superbowl rings. peyton manning's hands are pointing at his offensive line while he yells at them.
spidomanDec 8, 2006
This account has been closed by the user
tonicboyDec 8, 2006
@spyyderDon't be a jackass. OF COURSE this is all about money. But people have the right to protect their money. I do. You do. Tom Brady does too.
blacktoesDec 8, 2006
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ckinney23Dec 10, 2006
I don't really see why this should matter, it's not like Brady is unaware of the fact that he's one of the most recognizable faces in sports. Maybe next time he'll sue Patriots fans using his picture as an avatar somewhere for illegally using his likeness to promote themselves as Patriots fans. Please stop wasting people's time over a frivolous lawsuit that isn't actually going to help anyone involved significantly.
drifterDec 10, 2006
wow you all need to stop being jealous that we not only whoop ass but do it when you guys put us down.Talking trash about Brady being a baby. What about Manning and always crying about penalties not being called and just being an assh**e who thinks he is good looking and needs to be in every damn commercial.Keep talking trash while we own in the Playoffs.
sportsbuffDec 13, 2006
A quick note - I am the current President of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (www.FSTA.org), so here are a couple of quick notes...Yahoo does have a licensing agreement with the NFLPA. Each licensing agreement is negotiated separately, so their deal might be different than agreements I've seen. In a typical agreement, much of the wording is confusing and there are often questions about whether the agreements apply to photos, names, likenesses, etc. Typically, companies are required to pay each athlete for their photo and/or endorsement and the ads should be approved by the NFLPA and the individual athletes. This is only when using a photo or endorsement (not a name or statistics).All companies in the industry are questioning whether licensing deals are required (based on a favorable summary judgment in the CBC vs MLBAM lawsuit). But, we generally accept the fact that we can not use single, individual photos. So, the real questions are:- Did the Yahoo NFLPA agreement have unique wording that would allow them to use photos of 6 or more players as a group, without approval of the athletes?- Was the print ad or any of the banner ads approved by the NFLPA before they were published or displayed online?- If the ads were approved, then Brady's issues should be with the NFLPA and not Yahoo.There has been a lot of turnover in the Yahoo fantasy sports world, so I haven't heard anything directly from them on this issue.In the past, Yahoo has certainly been very professional in everything they do in the fantasy sports space and they have followed their agreements... so there's a good chance that they valid approvals for everything they've done.
bustinJan 27, 2008
Really, you dont think Tom Brady is self centered, he knocked up his girlfriend and left her, What a jerk. I hope his pansy ass ankle doesn't hold up even on the first play so then Matt Cassel can show the world what he doesn't got.
yomimediaSep 17, 2008
Wow. They must have kept that one quiet. Didn't know about that.