Electronic Arts didn"t have much success with releasing two games based on the Godfather movies but it has won its day in court over a claim that centers on the open world action games. Eurogamer.net reports that EA won a case that centered on calling one of the game"s weapons "The Dillinger".
The weapon was basically a version of the Thompson sub machine gun in the games but the name caught the eye of the estate of the famed 1930"s bank robber John Dillinger. The estate claimed that the game publisher didn"t get permission to name the weapon after Dillinger who certainly wasn"t a stranger to using similar guns in his real life exploits. The estate claimed that it was entitled to compensation thanks to 1996"s right-to-publicity law.
However the report claims that Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson of the US District Court in Southern Indiana ruled that EA was in the right, claiming that the right-to-publicity law doesn"t work with people who died before the law was passed. The judge also ruled that EA was within its First Amendment rights to name the Thompson machine gun The Dillinger because of the real association between the weapon and the real Dillinger.
EA released the first Godfather game in 2006. The open world action game used the likenesses and voices of much of the cast of the movie and was pretty much a blatant attempt to create a game to compete with Rockstar Games" Grand Theft Auto series. The first game received mixed reviews but EA released a sequel in 2009. It also released mixed reviews and poor sales and EA announced it would not make any more Godfather game titles.