REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 15 -- Football legend Joe Montana has filed a $5 million lawsuit against video game manufacturer Sega of America. The suit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, accuses Sega of agreeing to a three-year promotions deal beginning in January 1996, and then illegally canceling it seven months later.
Dan Stevens, Sega's public relations director, told the Oakland Tribune that his company is trying to resolve the dispute. Montana, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, first entered a licensing agreement with Sega in March 1990. The suit says that in 1995, before that agreement expired, Montana spent six months negotiating a new deal for an extended contract. According to the suit, the deal granted Sega licensing rights to his name for football video game products as well as three days per year of his time for production and public appearances. In exchange, Montana was supposed to receive 5 percent of net revenues from the sale of the first 200,000 products, with a maximum of 7 percent. Montana claims he also was supposed to receive $50 for each coin- operated video game the company sold and get several advances worth $825,000. The suit says Sega promised Montana that it would renew his contract, then, on July 15, sent him a letter terminating the contract. Industry analysts told the newspaper that Sega's Saturn game player was a slow seller, but company officials did not comment on whether that was a factor in the dispute. ---
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