Manchester United sue Football Manager creators

According to reports, Manchester United have sued Sega and Sports Interactive, the creators of the popular managerial simulator series, Football Manager.

The Premier League club has sued the companies due to allegedly infringing on the use of its trademarked club name "extensively" throughout the whole game.

Additionally, the club also remarked that the companies opted to use a red and white logo instead of the trademarked club logo, but still used the club name.

A Manchester United statement read that this deprives the registered proprietor of its right to have the club crest licensed.”

Sega and Sports Interactive have rebutted this statement, saying that Manchester United's name is "a legitimate reference to the Manchester United football team in a football context," also adding that the club name has been part of the series since the very first game back in 1992, when it was still called Championship Manager.

Simon Malynicz, Manchester United's lawyer, stated that the club name is a valuable and integral part of the club's income, with it being one of the most valuable brands in the world.

Malynics added that "Consumers expect to see the club crest next to the name Manchester United," with the failure to do so amounting to "wrongful use".

In their defence, Sega and Sports Interactive stated that preventing companies from using 'Manchester United' "would amount to an unreasonable restraint on the right to freedom of expression to restrain the use of the words ‘Manchester United’ to refer to a team in a computer game."

Sega and Sports Interactive's lawyer, Roger Wyand, added that Manchester United and the two companies had established a mutually agreeable business relationship throughout the release of the football series.