Yahoo sued for using football star’s image

Star quarterback Tom Brady has sued Yahoo Inc., claiming that the Internet business used his image without consent to advertise its fantasy football service.

Brady, who led the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl championships, is demanding that Yahoo stop running the ads and is seeking unspecified damages, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

A spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo declined to comment, saying it was company policy not to discuss pending litigation.

Brady’s complaint says he was prominently featured in Yahoo ads in Sports Illustrated magazine as well as on the Yahoo website without the athlete’s permission.

In fantasy football, sports fans assemble teams of real players from different NFL franchises and compete with friends in imaginary leagues. Their games are scored each week based on the performance of each athlete, with cash prizes often going to the winning fans.

In the lawsuit, Brady called the violation of his rights of publicity “intentional, deliberate, willful and malicious.”

Yahoo, which runs one of many fantasy football sites, offers a basic service at no cost but charges as much as $125 a season for access to advanced analysis tools and data.

The suit, which was filed Nov. 20, says that fantasy football is a $4-billion-a-year industry that attracts about 8 million consumers and that Yahoo’s fantasy football website generates more than 800 million page views a day during the football season.