Yellow card to video game companies: An analysis of the infringement of football player’s image rights in Brazil

Abstract

The huge importance of video games and football in Brazil led to a discussion about the commercial use of players’ images in well-known games, which consequently ended up in the filing of several lawsuits seeking compensation for moral damages. This impacts the investment of video game publishers in Brazil and requires solutions to their presence in the market, resulting in a discussion about next steps and how to deal with the subject of protecting individuals’ rights and contractual freedom equally. This analysis is based on the dissection of the decision in the Incident of Resolution of Repetitive Claims and its developments in the Superior Court of Justice, which will decide the future of the matter in Brazil. The resulting answers involve how to properly obtain the authorization of the players, and how to deal with the agreements chain and red flags that appear along the way, with an approach that foments development but also complies with the regulations of the largest country in Latin America. Therefore, the implications of this decision in this specific national market can impact how publishers invest, decide to act, and invest in Brazil, starting as a legal matter but going forward to affect the whole industry.