Hall of Fame basketball player Oscar Robertson has joined a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Collegiate Licensing Co. and Electronic Arts Inc. for the alleged illegal use of their images.

Also joining the lawsuit is Tate George, who played basketball for the University of Connecticut, and Ray
Ellis, a former defensive back for Ohio State University's football
team, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S.
District Court, Northern District of California.

The lawsuit was initiated in July 2009 with Ed O'Bannon, a star on UCLA's 1995 NCAA championship team, as the lead plaintiff. Since then, former football and basketball players across several eras have joined the suit. There are at least 25 former college athletes seeking compensation
for the use of their images following their university careers, the latest lawsuit said.

According to a statement from Robertson's lawyers, the issue first came to Robertson's attention when fans sent him current trading cards for signing that had pictures of him in his University of Cincinnati playing days – cards that Robertson had not authorized or even known about.  The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA and others have illegally licensed, and received compensation for, the images and likenesses of former college athletes like Mr. Robertson.

Stanley M. Chesley of the Cincinnati, Ohio-based law firm of Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co., stated, “Oscar, who for decades has fought for players' rights, has joined this suit to protect the interests of former, current and future college athletes. The NCAA and others have conspired to cash in on former athletes' names and likenesses, while denying them any payment.  That is fundamentally unfair; it is reprehensible; and it is, in fact, the definition of a major antitrust violation.”

Robertson said, “Our coaches taught us that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.  What the NCAA and these for-profit companies have done to college athletes is flat wrong.  I am proud to bring this lawsuit on behalf of former college players.”For example, five decades since playing for Cincinnati, Robertson's image still is
being sold in trading card sets that bear Collegiate Licensing's logo.”

Meanwhile, Tate George's famous buzzer-beating shot in the 1990 NCAA tournament,
against Clemson in the Sweet 16 has been used in product
commercials, including one for McDonald's. George also said he has received no compensation from such advertisements.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.