O.J. Simpson ordered to pay Goldmans over game

[NuclearMisfit]

link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070807/wr_nm/simpson_videogame_dc)


SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - Relatives of murder victim Ron Goldman won a court order on Tuesday seizing any money O.J. Simpson earns for lending his name and likeness to a football video game with a fictional team called the Assassins and a knife-wielding mascot.
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The legal victory was part of an effort by Goldman's estate to satisfy a $33.5 million judgment won against Simpson in a wrongful death suit brought against him in the 1994 stabbing deaths of Goldman and Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

The former star running back was acquitted of criminal charges in 1995 at the end of a sensational murder trial but was found legally responsible for their deaths by a civil court jury two years later.

Simpson has maintained his innocence and vowed never to pay the jury award voluntarily.

Last week, Goldman's estate, led by his father Fred Goldman, secured rights to Simpson's aborted book, "If I Did It," containing his hypothetical first-person account of the murders, after a long legal fight with the now-bankrupt company set up to collect Simpson's reported $1 million advance.

In their latest bid to collect on the civil judgment, the Goldmans went after any licensing fees, royalties or other compensation Simpson was paid or will be paid for his name and likeness in the new video game, "All-Pro Football 2K8."

The game is published by Take-Two Interactive Software, the company behind such controversial video game titles as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Manhunt 2," which was banned in Britain and given the equivalent of an adults-only rating in the United States.

TEAM OF "ASSASSINS"

"All-Pro Football" features the likenesses of 240 retired National Football League players, including Simpson, whom game users can assign to fictional teams with preset names, one of which is "The Assassins."

As previewed on a Web site for video game promotional trailers, the team mascot is a hooded figure who makes stabbing motions with a large knife in the end zone when the Assassins score. Simpson does not have to be assigned to that team, but he was in a clip shown on the Game Trailers Web site.

Take-Two has declined to say how it obtained rights to Simpson's name and likeness but said he was compensated. The company also has issued a statement saying the knife-wielding Assassins mascot is "not specifically associated with O.J. Simpson, and the game does not promote any such connection."

Under the order issued by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg, any earnings to Simpson that "have been paid, are due or may be due in the future" for use of his image and likeness in the video game must be turned over to the Goldman estate.

Moreover, Simpson was ordered to turn over copies of his Take-Two contract and related documents, as well as any other financial deals he has yet to disclose.

"Basically he (the judge) said to Mr. Simpson, 'Pay up,"' Goldman attorney David Cook said after the hearing.

Ronald Slates, a lawyer for Simpson, argued against the order, saying the California court lacked jurisdiction over his client, who has lived in Florida for several years.





I understand them getting money for the book but a video game which has no reference to Ron Goldman, Why does the juice have to pay?

[SkyNet]

i read this story earlier today... and i have to tell you.. i am sick and fucking tired of the Goldmans.

OJ, no matter what any one of us thinks, was ofund INNOCENT of killing his wife and that goldman dude... in my opinion, he shouldnt have to pay a single CENT to anyone.

All the Goldmans care about is getting money.... im really sick of them.

and i mean... there son wasnt an innocent dude... he was fucking a married woman... maybe he didnt deserve to die... i'm just sayin.. i Understand!

The Goldman family is entitled to shit... and the fact that they are taking all this money from OJ is down right despicable.

Because lets face it... there is a chance OJ DID NOT kill them 2, a small chance, albeit a chance.

[edonline]

OJ was found not guilty in the criminal trial but was found responsible in the civil trial, which awarded damages to the Goldmans. It may appear to be focused on money, but imagine how you would feel if the man you thought killed someone in your family went free (and not only went free, but was nonchalant about what happened -- talking about how he was going to catch the "real killers" but did nothing of the sort, wrote a book about how he "would have" commited the murders, etc).

I don't understand the point of Ronald Goldman not being an innocent man because he "was fucking a married woman". "Maybe he didn't he deserve to die"? I would go further and say that he definitely didn't deserve to die. The long-standing rumors were that OJ also played around and yet treated his wife like property. The murders weren't a sudden act, out of nowhere. The civi jurors took everything into consideration and deemed that OJ was responsible fot the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson and OJ is paying for it.

[JJFlamingo]

Doesn't say much for a video game company to be using OJ's likeness in a game, does it?? :confused:

[bigred760]

Originally posted by SkyNet
All the Goldmans care about is getting money

I'm in total disagreement with this. They don't want the money; they felt cheated when he was acquitted. They always will believe, until proven otherwise, that OJ killed Ronald Goldman. Nobody's proven otherwise.

They don't need the money. For starters, OJ doesn't have any. And we know this because he came up with that stupid ass book.


and i mean... there son wasnt an innocent dude... he was fucking a married woman... maybe he didnt deserve to die... i'm just sayin.. i Understand!


You understand what?

That killing a guy who was screwing a married woman deserves to be murdered?


I don't know if OJ killed those people or not, but the Goldmans are not after money - they're after what they believe is justice. They think they got screwed the first time around.

[TheMazVolta]

Originally posted by SkyNet

and i mean... there son wasnt an innocent dude... he was fucking a married woman... maybe he didnt deserve to die... i'm just sayin.. i Understand!


You do know that Nicole and OJ had been divorced since 1992. So at no point was Ron Goldman 'fucking' a married woman.




The Goldman family is entitled to shit... and the fact that they are taking all this money from OJ is down right despicable.


Taking all this money? The Goldman family hasnt collected one cent from OJ since the settlement was handed down. A $30 million dollar settlement and not one cent. At least they now have the rights to his 'If I did it Book' and are planning on relesing it using a more fitting title: 'Confessions of a Double Murderer'.


Because lets face it... there is a chance OJ DID NOT kill them 2, a small chance, albeit a chance.

Seriously? I would love to have you on my jury if I was ever on trial. That jury was duped by the best legal team money could buy. Read the evidence at the trial against OJ, and then say yeah, he could be innocent with a straight face.

[RustyRazor]

Originally posted by JJFlamingo
Doesn't say much for a video game company to be using OJ's likeness in a game, does it?? :confused:


Controversy sells, right?
A football team you can call The Assassins and you can put OJ on the team.
VERY tasteless, but then again, in this society, I'm not shocked in the least.

[Shockwave]

This guy needs to just get hit by a car and go away.


I hope they get every cent they can from the guy. I have no pity for for this scum.:mad: OJ killed two people and got away with it. This still isnt real justice, but itll have to do.

[SkyNet]

right on... i get what you all are saying...

im not saying that my opinion is the correct one! In this matter, im sure i am one of the only people that think this way!

but i mean... in movies we all watch where in the end, the bad guy who has killed many people, gets away with it all... we find that entertaining, we cheer... well. with OJ, it is possible that the Bad Guy got away with it. If he in fact did it. Now, he was found Innocent, and yet we still use the term "if he did it" or people flat out call him a murderer, i dont get that, innocent means NO MURDERER! But in our society we have deemed him a killer, just because thinking of another killer who has eluded us for so long, would have our minds running more then the normal person would like. We like Closure... so there fore.. OJ killed his wife and Ron Goldman! Until he admits to the killing, or someone comes forward and admits to the killing... i will always have Doubt that OJ did it.

now as far as the game goes, why are they using his likeness... its because it is that ALL PRO football game, that has ALL the retired kick ass football players that you can put on your team. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and no matter what you think of the man, how can ANYONE deny that OJ was one of the best NFL players of all time.

Thats why he is in the game.



so maybe i just dont get... how can OJ make a living if he has to turn all moneys earned over to the Goldmans??? OJ's likeness is being used in a video game, that is his money

do you all even know they took the mans fuckin HESIMAN (sp??) Trophy after the court ruling??

the fuckin HEISMAN TROPHY... the trophy given to the best college player of a certain year, an achievement no tmany people can claim, and they just took it from him. That has always sickened me

[JCPhoenix]

Okay, he was found innocent through an incredibly bungled trial but we still use the term "if he did it" because...well, quite simply, he did it. Are you kidding me? THIS GUY WROTE A BOOK CALLED "IF I DID IT" where he basically confessed exactly how he did the murders...according to wikipedia, O.J. Simpson said this in a publisher's release for the book:

"I'm going to tell you a story you've never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it. It takes place on the night of June 12, 1994, and it concerns the murder of my ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her young friend, Ronald Goldman. I want you to forget everything you think you know about that night, because I know the facts better than anyone."

Of course, they were going to sell the book as if it were fiction but c'mon, would an innocent man write a book about how he WOULD have done the murders? Um, no.

And oh my GOD, they took a TROPHY from O.J.. Cause, you know, that's totally worth the lives of TWO PEOPLE.

[NuclearMisfit]

Id understand the family of Ron Goldman getting money from the book due to OJ using their sons name and describing the murders but a video game that has nothing to do with Ron Goldman much like his Heisman Trophy should not be awarded to the Goldman family.

Sounds like Papa Goldman is just living off OJ, no matter if OJ was guilty or not the media and the people had already become judge and jury.

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by SkyNet

do you all even know they took the mans fuckin HESIMAN (sp??) Trophy after the court ruling??

the fuckin HEISMAN TROPHY... the trophy given to the best college player of a certain year, an achievement no tmany people can claim, and they just took it from him. That has always sickened me

It sickens me they didnt take it away and then BEAT him with it.

:)

A glorified paper weight isnt worth two lives.

[shoe1985]

Does anyone else think this is OJ's way of saying he did it? He makes a book and now a game.

If he did it, I think he is regretting it now.

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by shoe1985
Does anyone else think this is OJ's way of saying he did it? He makes a book and now a game.

If he did it, I think he is regretting it now.

Since he did do it, id hope so.

...but i dont think he does. Hes a smirky as ever. If he really regretted it, hed come out and say "i did it!" rather then all this bullshit. Hes just trying to make money in a very disgusting way. He needs to fade the hell away or just die already.

[FatSakHead]

They should sue the dumbass jury that found his ass innocent. How the fuck did they find him innocent? They're the ones who deserve to die, they're responsible for letting a murderer go free.

[Gregorious8]

Originally posted by SkyNet
r
but i mean... in movies we all watch where in the end, the bad guy who has killed many people, gets away with it all... we find that entertaining, we cheer... well. with OJ, it is possible that the Bad Guy got away with it.

There's a damn big difference between a movie and real life.

I don't understand how anyone could ever feel bad for that smug, guilty bastard. And know what sickens me more than OJ's Heisman Trophy being taken away? Him taking away two innocent lives.

[bigred760]

If he did do it . . . he might regret it a little bit because of the fact that every cent he earns will be going to the Goldmans. But still, he's not in prison or on death row, so he can't be regretting it that much.

[Scorpio24]

O J simpson --- co-poster boy for World's obsession with celebrities and the things it allows them to get away with..

[MISFITS_Fiend]

I've always thought there was a misconception about the OJ trial. I was working in a government installation at the time of the trial. I've never seen a whole government agency shut down before, but it was that day. After the verdict was released, people were running around shouting "OJ didn't do it!!!".

Wrong.

OJ was found Not Guilty. Not doing it and being found not guilty are two totally different things. The only thing a Not Guilty verdict means (in this case, anyway) was that in the jury's minds the case was not proven beyond all doubt. You can't tell me there weren't at least some of the jurors who were sure he was guilty but felt the evidence didn't prove it. No one ever claimed they were geniuses.

And yeah, I am sick and tired of the media actually giving this sack of shit the time of day. Until they stop falling for his little publicity ploys he's never going to go away. I have to chuckle every time he tries some scheme and gets nailed by the Goldmans. They may seem vindictive and I'm sure they are. I would be in their case; I'd want the bastard to suffer every day he's alive and never forget what he had done for a second. Welcome to OJ-Hell. :D

[edonline]

MISFITS_Fiend, similarly in the Michael Jackson molestation case, the jury returned a Not Guilty verdict. That doesn't mean they found him innocent of the charges, it simply meant that they didn't see enough evidence to convict him without a doubt. And yet, there are people who proclaim that MJ was declared innocent.

[ilovemovies]

I didn't read the article, just the headline but it looks like if you want to buy the book it won't be from Barnes & Noble.