... with your approval, of course. I'll be e-mailing it.
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NFL Players Association,
I represent the 3,877 active members of the International Gaming-Age Forum for Entertainment and Commerce, all of which are active supporters of National League Football and the NFL Players Association, and have enlisted the legal assistance of my law firm, Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons. It has come under our attention that you have engaged in an illegal contract with video game publisher Electronic Arts for exclusivity rights, leaving your association vulnerable to prosecution as an accomplice to several antitrust violations, in addition to grand felony marketplace negligence and a separate infringement of the Corporate Fair Play Act of 1998.
All legal proceedings could be avoided if the NFL Players Association were to immediately nullify its contract with Electronic Arts, which is not binding by law. In addition to the widespread ripple effect on the video game industry, including possible price hikes, squelching fair competition and customer dissatisfaction, the most viable threat to the NFL brand is the likelihood that the exclusivity deal will allow Electronic Arts cut payroll, thereby rendering the development process stagnant for the length of the contract.
Not only does Electronic Arts practice iniquitous business tactics, the company itself is renown its unsightly record that has been a blight upon the video game industry. The following are documented facts about the company that the NFL Players Association has chosen to align itself with:
* Once operated by Trip Hawkins, who led 3DO to bankruptcy despite a diverse portfolio and strong brand recognition. Hawkins, while at Electronic Arts, was detained by police several times for disorderly conduct and illegal online trade of drug paraphernalia.
* Electronic Arts has recently come under heavy allegations of employee abuse; paying programmers slave wages, unpaid overtime and inhumane treatment of designated employees. Working conditions are said to be obscene and abominable. Fellow legal peer Robert C. Schubert, a partner at the San Francisco law firm Schubert & Reed, has initiated legal proceedings to start a class-action lawsuit on behalf of a group of Electronic Arts employees.
* In addition to inexcusable labor practices, Electronic Arts has fostered illegal immigration by actively pursuing illegal aliens in an effort to pay minimal dues for high-quality, foreign art design. This in turn has led to massive layoffs within internal development houses and left many former Electronics Arts employees, some with families, completely homeless.
* Electronic Arts Chief Executive Larry Probst has a scandalous professional and personal history, with Probst prosecuted for assault and battery of an Electronic Arts employee in June of 2003 and an acquittal of double homicide in January of 1992. Probst has undergone routine anger management, and has had many run-ins with the law during his early years as an industry executive. Probst's ulterior motives for lucrative licensing agreements have left many of its once profitable partners, including Warner Bros. in an economic slump, and Electronic Arts' library of IPs have flat lined.
As shown, Electronic Arts has a history of faulty, distressing business relationships and is constantly led by professionals with spotty records. If you choose to move forward with the proposed licensing agreement, Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons will have no choice but to file paperwork on behalf the International Gaming-Age Forum for Entertainment and Commerce for injunction against the exclusivity agreement, followed by a class-action lawsuit.
In addition, there is the matter of monetary settlement for a select category of purchasers of the football video game simulation ESPN Football 2K5, which has been financially damaged and devalued by these improper business practices. Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons recommends an immediate settlement within the range $1.2 million for damages and mental anguish.
Failure to comply by December 31st, 2004 will result in immediate set of official procedures and a timetable for litigation to be determined and mailed at a later point.
Sincerely,
Chad Pennington, Executive Administrator
Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons
Suite 101
516 N Frederick Ave
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
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NFL Players Association,
I represent the 3,877 active members of the International Gaming-Age Forum for Entertainment and Commerce, all of which are active supporters of National League Football and the NFL Players Association, and have enlisted the legal assistance of my law firm, Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons. It has come under our attention that you have engaged in an illegal contract with video game publisher Electronic Arts for exclusivity rights, leaving your association vulnerable to prosecution as an accomplice to several antitrust violations, in addition to grand felony marketplace negligence and a separate infringement of the Corporate Fair Play Act of 1998.
All legal proceedings could be avoided if the NFL Players Association were to immediately nullify its contract with Electronic Arts, which is not binding by law. In addition to the widespread ripple effect on the video game industry, including possible price hikes, squelching fair competition and customer dissatisfaction, the most viable threat to the NFL brand is the likelihood that the exclusivity deal will allow Electronic Arts cut payroll, thereby rendering the development process stagnant for the length of the contract.
Not only does Electronic Arts practice iniquitous business tactics, the company itself is renown its unsightly record that has been a blight upon the video game industry. The following are documented facts about the company that the NFL Players Association has chosen to align itself with:
* Once operated by Trip Hawkins, who led 3DO to bankruptcy despite a diverse portfolio and strong brand recognition. Hawkins, while at Electronic Arts, was detained by police several times for disorderly conduct and illegal online trade of drug paraphernalia.
* Electronic Arts has recently come under heavy allegations of employee abuse; paying programmers slave wages, unpaid overtime and inhumane treatment of designated employees. Working conditions are said to be obscene and abominable. Fellow legal peer Robert C. Schubert, a partner at the San Francisco law firm Schubert & Reed, has initiated legal proceedings to start a class-action lawsuit on behalf of a group of Electronic Arts employees.
* In addition to inexcusable labor practices, Electronic Arts has fostered illegal immigration by actively pursuing illegal aliens in an effort to pay minimal dues for high-quality, foreign art design. This in turn has led to massive layoffs within internal development houses and left many former Electronics Arts employees, some with families, completely homeless.
* Electronic Arts Chief Executive Larry Probst has a scandalous professional and personal history, with Probst prosecuted for assault and battery of an Electronic Arts employee in June of 2003 and an acquittal of double homicide in January of 1992. Probst has undergone routine anger management, and has had many run-ins with the law during his early years as an industry executive. Probst's ulterior motives for lucrative licensing agreements have left many of its once profitable partners, including Warner Bros. in an economic slump, and Electronic Arts' library of IPs have flat lined.
As shown, Electronic Arts has a history of faulty, distressing business relationships and is constantly led by professionals with spotty records. If you choose to move forward with the proposed licensing agreement, Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons will have no choice but to file paperwork on behalf the International Gaming-Age Forum for Entertainment and Commerce for injunction against the exclusivity agreement, followed by a class-action lawsuit.
In addition, there is the matter of monetary settlement for a select category of purchasers of the football video game simulation ESPN Football 2K5, which has been financially damaged and devalued by these improper business practices. Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons recommends an immediate settlement within the range $1.2 million for damages and mental anguish.
Failure to comply by December 31st, 2004 will result in immediate set of official procedures and a timetable for litigation to be determined and mailed at a later point.
Sincerely,
Chad Pennington, Executive Administrator
Kurtz, Schwartz, Weinstein and Ramirez & Sons
Suite 101
516 N Frederick Ave
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
