Hi, I recieved the following assignment ...

Asked by the Customer on 27-03-2014 21:38:56
Question posted in the Intellectual Property Law category relating to Gauteng

Hi, I recieved the following assignment and require assistance to ensure the highest possible mark is achieved.
A famous soccer player john, is a star striker for bafana bafana, he has various endorsement deals. Konami , are the developers of the Pro Evolution soccer game on ps3 and xbox. He notices that Bafana’s star striker is a digitally rendered character who strongly resembles John. The digital player is named ‘Joe Shabby’ and has the same shirt number as John, as well as the same flowing dreadlocks and John’s characteristic rainbow-coloured wristbands (which are a bit of a trademark of John on the field). The digital character also performs a victory dance identical to that habitually performed by John after scoring a goal. John is upset, as he was never approached for permission to depict him in the game and Konami never obtained a license from John in terms of which he would receive payment for the use of his player attributes in the game.
John approaches you for advice, as he wants to sue Konami for the payment of damages. Assume, for purposes of your answer, that there are no problematic jurisdictional or procedural issues and that John would be able to sue Konami in South Africa and under South African law.

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