EA Sued Over EA Sports Active Titles

08 Jun 2010 at 11:05:55 by

Californian based technology company, Active Network Inc. has filed a lawsuit against EA over the publisher's use of the name EA Sports Active in it's titles.

Active Network Inc. has said the name used infringes on the company's "Active" trademark and the name of the game "so closely resembles" the Active Network's products it's "likely to cause confusion or mistake."

Although the products, according to the company's corporate overview page, aren't exactly confusable with EA's game, one can understand the grounds on which the claim was made, especially if you were to read the brief for the "Technology Solutions" section.

According to the legal document (thanks IGN), the company claims it's had the rights to the word "Active" since 1999, and registered the trademark back in the middle of 2008. The company also claims it's been "providing information regarding the scheduling of participatory sports and recreational activities and sporting events; sports training services, namely, providing personal training schedules and programs."

This, the Active Network claims, confuses the company's brand as it also offers a range of services online which include exercise programms, personal fitness chat-rooms and full online services for the tracking of your workout. The company claims EA's Sports Active 2.0 title will provide the same functionality therefore making it a direct competitor.

"EA's use of marks containing the word 'active' applied to online personal fitness programs and services has and will continue to damage Active Network," says Active Networks and are pushing to stop EA from manufacturing, advertising and selling any game with the word "Active" in it, at least in the United States.

Although Active Networks has acknowledged EA has used the name for previous iterations of the game, the company says previous titles didn't infringe or offer the same functions as their online service.

The Active Network seeking punitive damages of $75,000 USD as well as the cost of attorney's fees.

We've tried to call EA about this and we'll have an update with you as soon as we hear more.

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