As you tune into the March Madness games, what do you think your favorite college athletics should receive for their hard work on the court, their image, and likeness? As you mull over that question, consider this case. 

In the fall of 2011, former Boston Celtic and University of San Francisco athlete, Bill Russell, who led University of San Francisco to the NCAA championship in 1955 and 1956, joined forces with former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon on the behalf of other former NCAA players to sue Electronic Arts and the NCAA, as covered by Bloomberg News. 

The former college basketball stars accused the NCAA and Electronic Arts for “violating federal antitrust law by unlawfully foreclosing former Division I men’s basketball and football players from receiving any compensation related to the commercial use of their images and likeness,” stated Jon King, an attorney for the former players, to Bloomberg.Continue reading...

AOL hears strategy slammed by activist investor.

Ancestry.com uses humor in holiday-themed campaign.

Carnival Cruise campaign focuses on first-time cruisers.

CNN's Piers Morgan gets grilled in U.K. hacking probe.

Cracker Barrel shareholders reject activist investor's bid for board seat.

EA strikes again at Activision with new video game.

Facebook plans to begin placing ads in user news feeds.Continue reading...

Amazon creates towns of seasonal warehouse workers to fulfill holiday orders.

Apple gets patent-infringement victory over Google in Android case as Google sets to announce a solar-energy venture.

AT&T finally kills T-Mobile bid, giving it few strategic options to challenge Verizon and leaving future of Deutsche Telekom in the U.S. in doubt. 

Bi-Lo wants to merge with Winn-Dixie and take it private.

Conoco gets ground-breaking permit for drilling in Alaska.

EA's Star Wars: The Old Republic game sees fan frenzy for today's launch.

Facebook points to future with design of its new headquarters complex.Continue reading...

“The virtual cow is the new cash cow of Wall Street,” writes the New York Times of Zynga's blockbuster IPO today.

Even as its first-day performance is closely watched, Zynga's public debut is being seen as a coming of age for the gaming industry; the largest tech IPO since Google in 2004 and the biggest in gaming history, and an exoneration of sorts for CEO Mark Pincus, who persisted in his vision of the ‘freemium’ model (free basic play with incentives to pay for upgrades) despite derision from investors and critics of his company’s relentlessly hard-driving corporate culture.

Founded in 2007, Zynga now has 230 million monthly active users on Facebook and is a lead player in an explosive virtual goods market worth $9 billion last year.

“Zynga embodies a confluence of trends in the gaming industry. Its whimsical games cater to casual users, who may not own a console like a PlayStation 3. Its games, which are available on Facebook and mobile devices, also use social networks to allow players to share activity with their friends,” summarizes the Times.Continue reading...

Proof that video game trailers are as big a deal as a new movie opening? The trailer above, promoting EA's Need for Speed game (in stores Nov. 15), is seen "through the eyes of Michael Bay." EA tapped the Hollywood action director's special way with SFX to amp up the buzz for the new game, and — from the sound effects, to the cinematography to the close-ups to the visual effects — Bay delivers everything an action fan, movie or gaming, would want in a movie trailer.

But even bigger is the video game launching at midnight tonight, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which brings out some other entertainment big guns: Avatar star Sam Worthington, comedy actor Jonah Hill, and even the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard. The trailer, which you can watch below, features Jonah and Sam in a live action version of the game.Continue reading...

The first thing you need to know about the third annual BroCon Summit (Oct. 28 in New York) is that it was hosted by the GuyRilla Marketing (get it?) Group.

Moderated by ESPN, BroCon 2012 featured marketing executives from Nike, the NBA, NHL, NFL, Microsoft, EA, and Maxim magazine discussing the latest trends in "Marketing to Men."

The after-party was held at The Russian Tea Room. Did we say Russian Tea Room? We meant Hooters. The after-party was held at Hooters.Continue reading...

P&G delays $1.5 billion sale of Pringles.

Facebook struggles to get advertisers to pay for exposure.

Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale, owner Frank McCourt confirms.

Apple sees new CEO Tim Cook make it his own.

Bank of America blinks and withdraws $5 debit-card fee.

Bloomberg Businessweek ad campaign pitches personality.

BMW may see profit lead evaporate as new 3 Series eats into earnings and is topped by Mercedes-Benz in U.S. October sales.Continue reading...

Want to “enhance nerve function and improve balance and flexibility”? Florida-based Energy Armor’s wristbands, which contain “negative ions infused with harvested volcanic ash” could be just the thing for you.

However, you may have to wait for your wristband for a bit. Because it has as an EA logo on it that the folks over at big-bucks video-game maker Electronic Arts think looks a little too much like their own logo.

And so Electronic Arts has filed suit against Energy Armor, according to the Gamasutra blog.

Part of the problem, the complaint points out, is that “Energy Armor advertises its health and fitness products by associating them with sports and professional athletes, ‘which is similar to how Electronic Arts advertises and markets its EA Sports products.’”Continue reading...