Manchester United Issues Legal Action Against Football Manager

In terms of football management games, we’ve certainly not been left wanting over the last (nearly) 30 years with Championship Manager making its debut in 1992 which has (over the last 15 years) been supplanted by the (arguably much superior) Football Manager. It seems, however, that in all that time, Manchester United didn’t have a problem with the game. Until now…

In a report via Eurogamer, the English footballing giant has reportedly issued legal action against the game (well, more specifically, Sports Interactive and Sega) over alleged infringement of their trademark. Namely, the club’s badge.

Manchester United Sues Football Manager

It should firstly be noted that this is honestly bizarre on more than a few levels. Chiefly among them, however, is the fact that this isn’t a ‘new’ problem. In fact, as above, Manchester United has been a feature in various football management games for nearly 30 years.

In the report, however, Manchester United is claiming that the ‘faux’ logo used in the game infringes on their legitimate club badge. The clubs lawyers have said:

“[This] deprives the registered proprietor of its right to have the club crest licensed. Consumers expect to see the club crest next to the name Manchester United… and this failure to do so amounts to wrongful use.”

What Do We Think?

So, to be clear, while Football Manager does include all Premier League clubs, it often uses representations of their logos rather than the official ones. Directly because A) They don’t want to pay for their use in such a trivial matter and B) They can simply create their own interpretations of them for nothing. In regards to the latter, incidentally, these are randomly generated from 14 potential styles and selections based on the clubs ‘primary colors’.

So, put simply, Manchester United is suing Sega and Sports interactive because it thinks these ‘random selections’ are dishonest to their brand. – In other words, ‘we’re not happy about this, pay us and you can use our proper logo!’.

It does get into a whole new level of insanity when Sports Interactive confirmed that they have regularly sent free copies of the game to various Manchester United staff and board members and have only ever heard positive things. Even their current manager (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) has admitted he’s a fan of the franchise!

In a nutshell, it’s a really stupid case and we can only hope that Manchester United drops this ridiculous legal action before this matter escalates even further! Failing which, Football Manager 2021 may feature the ‘Manchester Reds’ going forward! Now that would be funny!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!