Former Netherlands international Edgar Davids has successfully sued the League of Legends video game franchise due to their 'Striker Lucian' character skin's resemblance to the former Barca, Milan and Tottenham star.
Riot Games, the developers of the 'LoL' online multiplayer, had their defence built around an insistence that the similarities between their model and Davids himself was not enough to confuse the two, and hence not worthy of a lawsuit.
That defence, however, was allegedly weakened by a now-deleted tweet by a Riot employee back in 2014 which is said to have read: “For all you wondering, Striker Lucian was inspired by soccer pro Edgar Davids.”
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Davids then appeared to thank Riot from his own Twitter account:
Presumably not realising how valuable the LoL franchise was at the time, Davids has now successfully sued for compensation.
An excerpt from the court documents reads:
"The court has come to the conclusion that the skin should be considered as a portrait. Striker Lucian is so similar to the former player - dark skin, sporting look, aggressive style, black dreadlocks and sporting goggles - that the skin and images of Striker Lucian remind people of the player. That assessment has taken context and the purpose of use of the portrait into account.
"The player's marketable popularity is enough reason for the former player to fight the use of his portrait. The player's interests outweigh the commercial interests of the game to offer the Striker Lucian skin and no reasonable compensation has been offered to the player. Riot Games therefore owe the player a compensation fee.
"To determine the height of this fee, Riot Games has to reveal how much money was made from the use of this skin. The court will rule on the height of the compensation in its next verdict."
