O'Bannon, Jr. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al

Filing 233

Deposition Designations by Edward C. O'Bannon, Jr. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A, #2 Exhibit B, #3 Exhibit C, #4 Exhibit D, #5 Exhibit E, #6 Exhibit F, #7 Exhibit G, #8 Exhibit H, #9 Exhibit I)(Bojedla, Swathi) (Filed on 6/20/2014) Modified on 6/23/2014 (kcS, COURT STAFF).

EXHIBIT G

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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Case No. 4:09-cv-1967 CW
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4

IN RE NCAA STUDENT-ATHLETE
NAME & LIKENESS LICENSING

5

LITIGATION

6

----------------------------------x
December 11, 2012

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9:59 a.m.

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9

- HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - OUTSIDE ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY -

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11

Videotaped deposition of JEREMY STRAUSER, held at

12

the offices of Munsch, Hardt, Kopf & Harr, PC, 401

13

Congress Avenue, Suite 3050, Austin, Texas, pursuant to

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Notice before Steven Stogel, Texas Certified Shorthand

15

Reporter No. 6174

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MR. SLAUGHTER:

Van Nest, on behalf of Electronic Arts and the witness.

3
4

MS. SPROVTSOFF:

MR. HENN:

MS. WAHL:

Suzanne Wahl from Schiff

Hardin on behalf of the NCAA.

9
10

Charlie Henn from Kilpatrick

Townsend on behalf of Collegiate Licensing Company.

7
8

Jessica Sprovtsoff from

Schiff Hardin on behalf of the NCAA.

5
6

Jamie Slaughter, Keker &

MS. FREEMAN:

Rachel Freeman from Hagens

Berman on behalf of plaintiffs.

11

THE VIDEOGRAPHER:

Our court reporter,

12

Steven Stogel, representing Veritext, will now swear in

13

the witness, and we can proceed.

18
19
20
21

Q.

Mr. Strauser, could you please state your full

name for the record?
A.

My name is Jeremy Strauser.

spell that?

Do you need me to

J-E-R-E-M-Y S-T-R-A-U-S-E-R.

22

Q.

Mr. Strauser, are you represented by counsel?

23

A.

Yes.

24

Q.

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Q.

Why not?

2

A.

I don't have them.

3

Q.

Where are they?

4
5
6
7

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Object -- well, you can

answer if you know.
A.

I don't know.

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

8

Q.

Who provided them to you?

9

A.

James Slaughter.

10

Q.

What did they concern?

11

MR. SLAUGHTER:

12

not to answer.

13

Objection; instruct you

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

14
15

Q.

Have you spoken with anybody about document

preservation in this case?

16

A.

No.

17

Q.

It's my understanding of the chronology that

18

you left Electronic Arts after this case was filed.

19

that the case?

20

A.

I don't know when this case was filed.

21

Q.

Is

Were you under an instruction to preserve

22

documents while you were at EA?

23
24

Q.

What was the exact date you left EA?

25

A.

It was May of 2011.

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Q.

Was EA your first job after college?

8

A.

It was, yes.

9

Q.

Is it correct you started in 1995?

10

I just

wanted to clarify that.

11

A.

Yes.

12

Q.

And what was your position in 1995?

13

A.

I joined Electronic Arts as a game tester.

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Q.

What was your next position at EA?

14

A.

I was promoted to assistant producer at

15

Electronic Arts.

16

Q.

What year?

17

A.

I'm not certain.

18

It would have been 1995 or

1996.

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2

Q.

producer at EA?

3
4

A.

Q.

A.

Q.

The associate producer was generally

Can you tell us what you mean by "game design

overall"?

11
12

What did your role as associate producer

responsible for the game design overall.

9
10

I was promoted

consist of?

7
8

I believe it was until 1997.

to associate producer at that time.

5
6

How long did you have this role as assistant

A.

They were responsible for proposing the

feature set that would go into the game, making sure the

13

16
17

Q.

what games were you dealing with at this time?

18
19

So what kind of games were you dealing with --

MR. SLAUGHTER:

"At this time" meaning

MR. LAMBRINOS:

Correct.

1997?

20

22

Q.

As associate producer.

23

A.

In 1997, I had moved over to the NCAA Football

24

series of games.

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playing as their team.

2

created modes.

3

different things.

4

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

5
6

Q.

A.

Did you ever do any analysis as to what

I had seen analysis.

I did not compile or do

the analysis.

9

Q.

10
11

Some consumers liked doing all sorts of

consumers were looking for in terms of feature set?

7
8

Some consumers liked playing

Do you recall what that analysis said?
MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; lacks

foundation, calls for speculation.

12

A.

I -- off the top of my head, I do not.

14

Q.

What types of features would be important to

A.

Realism, authenticity.

15
16

you?
I think, you know, the

17

tag line of EA sports, "It's in the game.

18

game," was always something that we -- we tried to make

19

things as realistic as possible.

20
21

24
25

Q.

It's in the

What was your process for incorporating

realism into EA's games?

A.

We would watch a lot of college football.

would attend college football games.

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We

We would read

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everything we could on college football.

We tried to

2

replicate the sport of college football as best we

3

could.

7

Q.

Could you give me some examples?

13

A.

Examples would be making sure the stadium was

14

designed correctly, that we had the correct uniforms,

15

that we had the right fight song, things of that nature.

17

Q.

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What other details did you include?

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A.

I don't recall the specific details in 1998

3

that would be accurate or inaccurate.

4

get the Wilson onto the football, to give you an example

5

of the level of detail that we would get to.

6

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

7

Q.

8
9
10
11

We would try to

What about the players?
MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; vague and

ambiguous as to what you mean by "what about the
players."
A.

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I'm sorry.

I don't understand.

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Q.

What types of details about the players would

3

you include in your games -- in your NCAA Football game

4

specifically in order to heighten its realism?

5

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; vague and

6

ambiguous, overbroad.

7

have you expanded your question?

8
9

Are you still on the '98 game, or

MR. LAMBRINOS:
to a broader set of games.

He can -- he can answer

If he wants to start in the

10

1998 game, he can tell me about that, and he can tell me

11

about other details he wants to include.

12

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Your --

13

MR. LAMBRINOS:

It's an open-ended

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Your question is

14

question.

15
16

overbroad and ambiguous, and I'm going to object to it

17

19

A.

Generally, we would try to recreate the player

20

and team performance as they were in real life short of

21

using a player's name or likeness.

23

Q.

What do you mean "performance"?

24

A.

When I say "performance," I mean things like

25

physical attributes; speed, strength, throwing power,

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throwing accuracy, height, weight, things of that

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nature.

3

Q.

Where did you get this information?

4

A.

From publicly available sources.

5
6
7

Generally

the Internet or magazines or books.
Q.

How did you go about incorporating that

information into the game?

10

A.

We would type that into a player database.

12

Q.

Do you know the complete list of attributes in

13

the player database?

14

A.

No, I don't.

15

Q.

Can you include any more?

16

couple.

17

accuracy, height, weight.

18

A.

Not off the top of my head.
You had given a

We talked about speed, strength, throwing
Anything else?

There was agility, catching, awareness,

19

kicking power, kicking accuracy, tackling.

20

quite a few.

21

Q.

Skin tones?

22

A.

Yes, I believe so.

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There were

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additional attributes?
A.

More capacity from the hardware.

As the

3

hardware advanced, there was more memory available,

4

things like that.

5
6

Q.

Do you recall what additional attributes made

their way onto the game as technology developed?

7

A.

I don't.

8

Q.

Did EA maintain a list of names by position

9

I'm sorry.

for each team?

10

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; vague and

11

ambiguous, overbroad as to time.

12

you referring to?

14
15

19
20

Q.

What time period are

Let's start in 1997, and you can move forward

if you want after that.

Q.

Did EA maintain a list of players' names in

the player database by position for each team?

21

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; vague and

22
23

A.

We had a list of players by team, yes.

25

Q.

So in the database, the database -- the player

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database has the players' names in it.

Is that correct?

2

A.

I don't know that for a fact, no.

3

Q.

The attributes that are included; speed,

4

strength, height, throwing accuracy, agility, catching,

5

awareness, kicking, tackling, skin tones, et cetera,

6

were those linked to specific players?

10

Q.

In the player database.

13

A.

They were linked to specific player IDs, yes.

14

Each player had a unique identifying number.

15

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

16

Q.

How were these numbers assigned?

17

A.

I believe they were random based on

18
19

alphabetical by team.
Q.

Was there an index of player IDs that you

20

could use to determine the player's actual name based on

21

the ID?

25

A.

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was or was not.

Q.

Generally, there was not.

Well, if you wanted to know, for example, Matt

4

Leinart's height and weight and his throwing accuracy,

5

would you be able to do that with the player database?

9

A.

If you knew that the US -- Matt Leinart went

10

to USC, so I think, you know, if you looked at the USC

11

quarterback, that's what you would look at.

13

Q.

And the information you were inputting for

14

Matt Leinart as the USC quarterback, for example, would

15

have Matt Leinart's attributes?

18
19

21

A.

Generally, as close as we could get without

using his name or likeness, yes.

Q.

And you knew they were his attributes because

22

his player ID told you that it was Matt Leinart.

23

that right?

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A.

I don't really know how to answer that.

We

2

generally tried to make the players perform as their

3

real life counterparts, short of their name and

4

likeness.

6
7

Q.

those players are.

10
11

And in order to do that, you have to know who

A.

Right?

Yes.

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

12

Q.

So when we're talking about the player

13

attributes, for example the USC quarterback in NCAA

14

Football, we're talking about Matt Leinart's player

15

attributes.

18

A.

Correct?

I don't know what we're talking about.

What

19

we would try to do is replicate the players as best we

20

could without using their actual name in the game.

21

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

22
23

Q.

information about the actual players.

24
25

And in order to do that, you would need

A.

Yes.

Right?

We would get biographical information,

yes.

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Q.

So you would have to have some way of

2

identifying the actual players in the player database.

3

Is that right?

10
11

A.

We generally looked at the player's position

and depth chart.

13

Q.

What's that?

14

A.

If a player played quarterback and it was the

15

starting quarterback, we would know that, and we would

16

make the attributes of the starting quarterback match

17

that.

18
19

Q.

And what if USC's quarterback, for example,

changed the next year?

Then what would you do?

20

A.

21

information.

22

Q.

Why?

23

A.

Because that was the goal of the NCAA Football

24

The same thing.

We would stay current on that

game, to replicate everything that we could about the

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5
6

When was your next position change at EA
after you were the associate producer in 1997?
A.

I don't remember the specific date.

I would

7

have been promoted to producer -- it would have been

8

around 2000, 2001, somewhere in that range.

9

Q.

That's just producer without any qualifier?

10

A.

That's correct.

11

Q.

And what was your role as producer?

12

A.

As producer, I would oversee assistant and

13

associate producers and be responsible for the overall

14

development of a game.

15

Q.

And who reported to you?

16

A.

Generally associate and assistant producers

17

would report to me.

Sometimes a development director or

18

a development manager would report to me as a producer.

19

Sometimes an art director or an art manager would report

20

to me as a producer.

21

Q.

And this is for all of EA's games?

22

A.

Is that structure for all of EA's games?

23

Q.

Were you acting as producer for all of EA's

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3

Q.

All right.

When was your next position change

at EA following your role as producer in 2000 and 2001?

4

A.

There were a couple of other producer titles,

5

supervising producer and senior producer, and then

6

ultimately I was promoted to executive producer I think

7

in 2007, somewhere in that range.

8

refresh my memory with the -- my resume or --

I'm sorry.

9

Q.

That's okay.

10

A.

-- the dates of my -- my titles.

11

Q.

That's all right.

I didn't

Can we talk about generally

12

the different roles for each of these titles, starting

13

with supervising producer?

14

A.

A supervising producer is very similar to the

15

producer.

16

game.

17

PlayStation.

18

multiple titles.

19

charge of a franchise or a group of franchises.

20

He may take on additional platforms of the

So in addition to Xbox, he would take on Xbox and

Q.

Senior producer, you might take on maybe
And executive producer, you'd be in

I'm having a little trouble with the

21

vocabulary.

22

take on additional platforms of the game.

23

mean by that?

24

You said as supervising producer you may
What did you

MR. SLAUGHTER:

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with me is -- is disappointing that you would think that

2

that would be an appropriate question for a deposition.

3

MR. LAMBRINOS:

4

inappropriate question.

5

Well, it's not an

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

6

Q.

Mr. Strauser, I'd like to start off with some

7

terminology.

8
9
10

You used the term "player likeness" in
your previous testimony.
term?

11
12
13

What did you mean by that

MR. SLAUGHTER:
foundation.
A.

Objection; lacks

You used the term "player likeness."

Well, I don't know the legal definition of --

14

MR. SLAUGHTER:

15

sorry.

16

And I'm sorry.

a legal conclusion.

17

A.

Let me insert one other objection.

I'm

Yeah.

It calls for

I don't know the legal definition of

18

"player likeness," but, you know, to me it means the

19

player's face as you would see it in a photograph or

20

video, what somebody looks like.

22

Q.

And was the player likeness, in terms of

23

their -- what their face looked like, incorporated into

24

EA's games?

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foundation, calls -- excuse me.

Objection; calls for a

2
3
4

A.

I assume you mean the NCAA Football games?

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

5

Q.

Correct.

6

A.

No.

7

Q.

Why not?

11

A.

My understanding is that the NCAA rules

12

prohibited the use of player name and likeness because

13

it would violate their eligibility.

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2

A.

Later in my career, yes, indirectly.

I had

seen communication on that.

3

Q.

From whom?

4

A.

From the contract between EA and the NCAA --

5

or CLC -- I guess NCAA and CLC.

Excuse me.

6

Q.

What about the contract?

7

A.

There was a provision in the contract

8
9

regarding player name and likeness.
Q.

10
11

16
17

What did the provision say?
MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; lacks

foundation, calls for speculation.

Q.

The document speaks

Were player names included in your -- in the

NCAA Football games?

18

A.

No, they were not.

19

Q.

Why not?

22

A.

For that same reason.

My understanding is

23

that use of names or likeness was a violation of NCAA

24

rules in terms of player eligibility.

25

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2
3
4

Q.

Did you want to include player name or

likeness in the games?
A.

Did I personally want to include?

Yes, I

5

think from an authenticity standpoint, I would like to

6

include them.

7

Q.

And can -- what do you mean "from an

8

authenticity standpoint"?

9

would including the player likeness and name contribute

10
11

In what -- in what manner

to authenticity?
A.

Just as if you were watching a game on

12

television or attending a game in person where player

13

names are on the back of the jerseys, you know who those

14

people are in real life, to use their name in a video

15

game would be more authentic.

16

Q.

But you were all using the numbers?

19

A.

We did use the roster numbers, yes.

21

Q.

Could the players be identified on the basis

22

25

of their roster numbers?

A.

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Not within the game.
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3

6

Q.

Outside of the game could they be recognized

on the basis of their roster numbers?

A.

You would have to look at a roster to match up

7

a number with a name, I guess.

8

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

9
10

Q.

And would EA's gamers or the consumers of EA's

games have access to these rosters?

11
12
13
14
15
16

MR. SLAUGHTER:

foundation, calls for speculation.
A.

19

I don't know what they would have access to.

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:
Q.

Do you recall whether or not they had access

to rosters?

17
18

Objection; lacks

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; lacks

foundation, calls for speculation.
A.

20

I don't know, no.
(Continuing testimony is contained in the

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MR. LAMBRINOS:

3

(Exhibit No. 700 marked)

4

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Is this one document?

5

MR. LAMBRINOS:

It's one document.

6
7
8

Q.

What I'm handing you, Mr. Strauser, is one

document in multiple -- in multiple parts.
MR. SLAUGHTER:

MR. LAMBRINOS:

There's two or three

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Oh, I'm sorry.

copies.

13
14

Do you have some for the

other folks?

11
12

I'm going to go

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

9
10

Okay.

So the

clip here, I just get one of the clips?

15

MR. LAMBRINOS:

Yeah.

16

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Oh, I'm sorry.

17

MR. HENN:

18

MR. LAMBRINOS:

19
20

We can share.
Okay.

You can share?

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:
Q.

And if you'll -- see, there's a little -- I

21

think a green tag in there.

22

There are multiple attachments to it, but there is a --

23

there is a document inside there that looks like this.

24

It's where the green tab is right there.

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This is a single document.

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yourself, Mr. Strauser.

2

sake of keeping things moving, we're not going to

3

pretend to read every page of what appears to be more

4

than 100 pages here, so -- but if we need to stop and do

5

so, we will.

6

And, Demetrius, I mean, for the

MR. LAMBRINOS:

Okay.

Well, it's a

7

complicated document, so I certainly understand that.

8

wanted to provide a complete document.

9

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

10

Q.

12

Q.

I

Okay.

So do you see the document that I've

13

identified that has the green tab, the bottom right-hand

14

corner Bates number reads EA0011691?

15

A.

16
17

Yes.
(Continuing testimony is contained in the

Confidential section, pages 88 to 128.)

18

---o0o---

19
20

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16

Q.

Okay.

17

A.

This looks to be a summary of our -- of NCAA

18

So what is this document?

player name status in January 2006.

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For the meeting that Todd and -- Todd Sitrin and others

2

presented?

3

Q.

Yes.

4

A.

No.

5

I was actually referring to, like, screen

shots and videos for that presentation.

6

Q.

Oh, I see.

10

Q.

Did you produce this document in the ordinary

11

course of business in the scope of your employment at

12

EA?

13

A.

I did, yes.

14

Q.

Does it refresh your recollection as to

15

whether or not there was any friction between the NCAA

16

and the EA on the idea of incorporating name and

17

likeness into EA's NCAA games?

18

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Mr. Strauser, feel

19

free -- I mean, as I said, for the purpose of moving

20

along, we haven't read the whole thing.

21

take your time to read it, feel free.

22

A.

I don't know that I would classify it as

23

friction between EA and NCAA.

24

of my supervisor, Steve Chiang.

212-279-9424

If you want to

This was at the request
He wanted to know where

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and it lacks foundation and it misstates his prior

2

testimony.

3

A.

No, I don't think that was the point of this

4

document.

5

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

6

Q.

Okay.

7

A.

It was to summarize the status of the -- the

8
9

Well, what was the point?

names -- the NCAA player names for my manager.
Q.

Okay.

Well, I'm looking up at the top now in

10

the overview.

11

topic over the past few months was to gather all the

12

background information on this issue and to make a

13

recommendation or a series of recommendations as to how

14

to add real player names and likeness to NCAA Football

15

and NCAA March Madness."

16

It says, "The goal of researching this

Did I read that right?

17

A.

Yes.

18

Q.

And was that the point of this memo?

19

A.

That's right.

20

That's what I meant in terms of

the status of NCAA -- of names going into the NCAA

21
Q.

And the obstacles to incorporating

23

player name and likeness into EA's NCAA games included

24

the NCAA's unwillingness to incorporate those features

25

into the game.

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Is that correct?
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4

A.

I wouldn't characterize it as unwillingness.

5

They had a rule regarding player eligibility.

6

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

7

Q.

Okay.

Well, I'm looking down at the next

8

paragraph.

It says, "Two halves of the problem," and

9

then there's a section marked "redacted."

10

And it says, "To include real player

11

names, there are two current obstacles.

12

NCAA approval to do this."

13

The first is

Do you see that?

14

A.

I do.

15

Q.

So was that an obstacle to incorporating

16
17
18

player name and likeness into EA's NCAA games?
A.

Yes.

I think their approval was related to

their own internal rules regarding player eligibility.

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BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

2
3

Q.
2006?

4
5
6
7

Did they attempt to do this after January

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; lacks

foundation, calls for speculation.
A.

I believe so, yes.

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

8

Q.

When would they have done that?

9

A.

I don't know the specific date.

10

Q.

Do you know generally what time frame?

11
12

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; overbroad,

vague.

13

17

Q.

I'm sorry.

Just so I can take a look at that.

18

The cover of this document, the Bates number at the

19

bottom of the very front of the document, is EA0011661.

20

It looks like the very top says "NCAA Names

21

Presentation," in October of 2010.

22

right?

212-279-9424

Does that sound

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5

BY MR. LAMBRINOS:
Q.

So this memo and the other materials that were

6

included behind the cover were being pulled together for

7

a meeting in 2010?

8
9

A.

It looks like this was a prep meeting for an

NCAA meeting held in 2010 and that Todd attached notes

10

from previous meetings, including January 2007, this

11

document from January 2006, and some undated exec pres.

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Q.

I'm handing you what's just been marked as

3

Plaintiff's Exhibit 702.

4

into the record, EA0031106 through 08.

5

look at the document and let me know when you're ready

6

to talk about it.

7

A.
Q.

Okay.

You can take a

Okay.

8

And I'll read the Bates number

9
10

So starting with the email on the

second page, EA0031107, there's an email from you to
DaveK@clc, which is Dave Kirkpatrick.

11

A.

Yes.

12

Q.

Okay.

Is that right?

And was this email sent by you in the

13

regular course of business in the scope of your duties

14

at EA?

15

A.

Yes, it was.

16

Q.

Do you have any reason to think that it is not

17

a true and correct copy as it existed at the time?

18

A.

No.

19

Q.

Okay.

The body of the email says, "Dave, I

20

noticed this," and then it drops a URL, and then there's

21

a quote, and -- oh, sorry.

22

say, says, "Sharing of roster files (2K NCAA Hoops)."

23
24

The subject line, I should

Then you say, "Dave, I noted this,"
colon.

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There's a URL there, and then there's a quote.

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10
11

Q.

Have you ever heard the term "generic head" in

reference to any type of player attribute?

12

A.

I have, yes.

13

Q.

And what does it mean?

14

A.

We have generic faces in the -- in the games

15

that are assigned to every player in the game.

16

know how they're assigned, but every player gets a face

17

number.

18

Q.

19

I don't

How many different faces are there?
MR. SLAUGHTER:

Objection; vague,

20

ambiguous, overbroad, lacks foundation, and it's vague

21

particularly as to which game you're referring to.

23
24

A.

It was hundreds.

You

I don't know the specific

number, but it was hundreds of faces.

25

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BY MR. LAMBRINOS:

2

Q.

How were these faces compiled?

3

A.

I'm not an artist, so I can't speak to the

4

technical way that they're created, but they were

5

created by our art team.

6
7

Q.

Did they have any relation to actual player

faces?

8

A.

No, none whatsoever.

9

Q.

How do you know that?

10

A.

Because we specifically made sure not to use

11
12
13

real player likenesses in our game.
Q.

And did you receive explicit instructions on

the generic head attribute in terms of player likeness?

14

A.

Specific instructions from whom?

15

Q.

From the NCAA.

16

A.

No.

17

20

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Q.

Did the -- did the various heads have codes

21

associated with them so you could determine that head

22

No. 1 is this head and head No. 2 is a different head?

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A.

They did.

They had a unique identifier.

But

2

each face was used more than one time in the game, if

3

that makes sense.

4

have been assigned to many, many players throughout the

5

roster file.

So if you had face No. 1, it could

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
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MR. SLAUGHTER:

2

MS. FREEMAN:

Okay.
But we have not engaged in

3

our own discovery yet, so there could be further that we

4

request.

5

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Well, you -- is there

6

anything stopping you from asking questions based upon

7

the documents that you've received to date?

8
9

MS. FREEMAN:
question.

Counsel, I've answered that

It doesn't matter what documents I have

10

already.

What matters is at this point I am not

11

permitted by the Court to conduct discovery against EA.

12

I'm done.

13
14

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Anybody else have any

questions?

15

MR. HENN:

16

MR. SLAUGHTER:

17

I've got a few.
Okay.

EXAMINATION

18

BY MR. HENN:

19

Q.

Mr. Strauser, I'm Charlie Henn.

I'm a lawyer

20

that represents CLC, and I am just going to ask a few

21

follow-up questions to clarify some answers that I may

22

have misunderstood or not gotten fully during the day.

23

25

Q.

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Just to be clear, aside from the cover
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athlete, the cover of the game, to your knowledge, did

2

the NCAA Footbal game ever incorporate into the game

3

itself the name, image, or likeness of a

4

student-athlete?

7

A.

Well, I don't know the legal conclusion around

8

likeness, but, no, we never included a likeness or name.

9

BY MR. HENN:

10

Q.

11

CLC.

And you mentioned that you were familiar with

Correct?

12

A.

Yes.

13

Q.

Dave Kirkpatrick for a time was your single --

14

your main point of contact there?

15

A.

Yes, that's correct.

16

Q.

Did you understand CLC's role in the process

17

as the trademark licensing agent for the NCAA and a

18

bunch of colleges and bowls and conferences?

19

MR. LAMBRINOS:

20
21

Objection; calls for a

legal conclusion.
A.

Honestly, no, I didn't understand that

22

relationship fully.

23

BY MR. HENN:

24

Q.
?

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street at University of Texas, or the rosters in the EA

2

games?

3

MS. SPROVTSOFF:

4

NCAA Football game rosters.

5

I believe I said in the

game.

6
7

I meant in the EA video

MR. SLAUGHTER:
A.

Okay.

Fair enough.

On a per team basis, yes, it was between 50

8

and 60 players per team.

9

BY MS. SPROVTSOFF:

10

Q.

And are there typically more than 50 to 60

11

players on an actual football team, for example the

12

University of Texas' team?

13

A.

21
22
23
24
25

EA selected the attributes for each of
those players in the game.
A.

Is that correct?

You're talking about the attributes assigned

to each player in the game?
Q.

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Yes.
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A.

Yes.

It was -- generally there was somebody

2

assigned to compile rosters.

3

It could have been a group of people, depending on the

4

year -- to compile the roster data.

5
6

Q.

Okay.

It could be one person.

The NCAA didn't have any input as to

the player attributes.

Is that correct?

7

A.

No, they did not.

8

Q.

And the schools and universities, they didn't

9

have any input about those player attributes?

13

Q.

If you know.

14

A.

Not that I'm aware of, no.

15
16

MS. SPROVTSOFF:

MR. SLAUGHTER:

Just a couple of

follow-ups, Mr. Strauser.

19
20

That's all I

have.

17
18

Okay.

EXAMINATION
BY MR. SLAUGHTER:

21

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