The dispute over Manchester in Football Manager ends with an agreement -apkrig
More than a year ago, we informed you about a complaint from the Manchester United football club against developers from the Sports Interactive studio, resp. publishing company Sega. United’s management did not like the use of the mentioned club name in connection with the fictitious logo in Football Manager, which was to clearly demonstrate that the authors of the game do not have a license for the club name. A relatively unpleasant dispute has arisen over what Football Manager type games must be licensed for and what they should not, or from whom they have the permission of club names, but also the names of players to use. In their first attempt to explain the situation, Sports Interactive people pointed out that the ability to name clubs by their real names and include real players in their rosters could, with permission from the Premier League management, defend Manchester United’s claims – not to use the name in the game – with by referring to the general use of the club name in a football environment. Last May, at the end of the article, based on the information available at the time, we noted that the dispute should be clear within days, but in the end we had to wait until August this year to find out the result.
Manchester United and Sega have agreed a settlement to amicably resolve their trade mark dispute relating to Football Manager. Both parties are pleased to resolve this matter to their mutual satisfaction. pic.twitter.com/OQXeY7nMXP
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) August 6, 2021
This is the change of the name of Manchester United to Manchester UFC in this year’s Football Manager and the following years. According to Sports Interactive on their Twitter, it was allegedly a gesture of goodwill on their part and the dispute was resolved by agreement. “Both sides are pleased that they have resolved this issue to their mutual satisfaction,” the developers say. With a second breath, however, Lawyers Sports Interactive and Segy add that they still stand by the fact that they do not need a license from the club to use the name and make a concession in order to be able to both sides move forward. Especially in this case, however, it would be very interesting to find out the decision of the court, which would have to take into account not only the requirements of Manchester – ie the interest in not having a customer by using a generic logo, respectively. the need to use a license – but also the developers of the game, who already last year pointed out a number of circumstances that would seem at least bizarre in the light of a possible lawsuit.
SEGA and Sports Interactive maintain that they do not need a licence to use the ‘Manchester United’ name but have made the change as a gesture of goodwill so that both parties can move on.
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) August 6, 2021
Football Manager is a game that footballers and sports managers are familiar with, and since its tradition dates back several decades, the game has arrived many times as a gift and thank you for cooperating to Manchester United headquarters. Sega also stated that the scouts and managers of Manchester (and other clubs) cooperate with the game’s developers on the part of the young players for whom they provide data or receive it from the Football Manager’s database to support the performance of their own work. The developers also pointed out that in the past Manchester had given permission to use the club name in the game, so it is not possible to change the decision retrospectively, adding that current Manchester coach and former footballer Ole Gunnar Solskjær has mentioned Football Manager as his favorite game in the past. which, according to Eurogamer, was even to help him with his own tactics. After all, something similar was resolved in the dispute between football player Zlatan Ibrahimović and the FIFA game – the football player claimed that he had no idea where his name came from, even though he had previously worked directly with EA to promote the game in previous years.
In any case, this case is closed and it will be interesting to see if other clubs will try to arrange it.
