Today is a Landmark Legal Day

In Pasadena, Calif., the future of the Granddaddy of all bowls will be on the line. No, nothing is happening at the historic Rose Bowl. The action is downtown at the court house as EA Sports goes to trial over the use of college football player likeness in video games.

Sam Keller's lawsuit cleared its first legal hurdle on Feb. 10 when the judge refused EA's motion to throw out the case. Today, the trial begins.

What I find as intriguing as the creation of a trust fund from revenues made by EA and the NCAA for athletes is the friends of the court in the case. The Motion Picture Association of America, for example, siding with EA; the estate of Bob Marley with Keller.

For background, here's an Associated Press story that sets the details.

As the story indicates, there are nine different suits with basically the same claim. You may have also heard of former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon's suit. Oscar Robinson just joined in as a co-plaintiff in that suit, which is in the San Francisco federal court.