EA wins Godfather lawsuit against the estate of John Dillinger (The Godfather II)

Indiana Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson has ruled in favor of games publisher Electronic Arts in a case against the estate of American gangster and bank robber John Dillinger. The suit was filed by EA in response to threats of litigation from the Dillinger estate for using the “Dillinger” name for a machinegun in the Godfather games.

According to Magnus-Stinson, the Dillinger estate has no claim to exclusive publicity rights over the Dillinger name via the right-of-publicity statute, since the infamous gangster passed away before that law was passed. EA's case rested on a precedent ruling that the same exception applied to the name “Marilyn Monroe.”

Magnus-Stinson commented that Dillinger's association with the Thompson (or “Tommy Gun”), after which the Dillinger in EA's game was modeled, had been cemented in popular culture over the years...

Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/the-godfather-ii/news/ea-wins-godfather-lawsuit-against-the-estate-of-john-dillinger/a-2011062114139813092/g-2008080810353481039

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