Popular soccer club Manchester United has filed suit against publisher Sega over the infringement of trademark. The suit is focused the game Football Manager 2020 developed by Sports Interactive who is included within the lawsuit.
The issue stems over the the logo for the club and its the lack of its inclusion within the game. The team claims that by not using the official Manchester United crest, Sega and Sports Interactive have failed to properly acquire the license for the team. The symbol used instead is was "simplified red and white striped logo" according to the complaint.
The lawsuit comes 28 years after the debut of the series with the original Championship Manager in 1992. Ever entry in the franchise since has included the team which Sega notes as "a legitimate reference to the Manchester United football team in a football context." The publisher and developer have accused the club of attempting to prevent competition within the gaming medium by preventing certain games to include the team. This is likely in reference to titles such as EA's Fifa Soccer series and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccerwith the former holding impressive sales numbers.
One of the more interesting arguments in the case is the inclusion of the request to amend the claim to include actions against mods and patches, specifically those that include trademarks. Manchester United's barrister Simon Malynicz argued that the publisher "encouraged" players to utilize player-created mods as a means of bypassing licencing requirements.
Sega's counter argument was that the currently used logo was randomly assigned from a selection of 14 generic logos thus meaning a license would not be required. The defense has also argued that limiting usage of the the Manchester United name would be "an unreasonable restraint" of free speech.
Football Manager remains one of the most celebrated sports simulation games of the medium. This lawsuit comes at a time when sports games are finding a wider audience through quarantine with Sega capitalizing on on the stay-home-and-play messaging by making Football Manager 2020 free to play in March for a limited time. While that offer is no longer available, Football Manager 2020 debuted on Xbox Game Pass last month giving subscribers the chance to test the waters of a new simulation.
Football Manager 2020 is available now on PC, Stadia, and Switch.
Source: The Guardian
