Football Manager is a relatively niche sports management simulation, at least in North America, where it is known as the Beautiful Game. Outside of that, it's one of the most beloved and consistently high-scoring series on the PC: except for a brief period in 2015, I can't find a review score below 80 through a decade's worth of games.

Seriously, you need to see this.

Unfortunately, Manchester United, the English Premier League giant (and brand licensing giant), has sued Sega and Sports Interactive for trademark infringement. As reported by The Guardian, the game references Manchester United, but the issue is that it does not use the official crest, instead "replacing it with a simplified red and white striped logo that is a simplified version of the club's crest. [According to the club, using the name without the proper logo would "deprive the registered owner of the right to license the club crest." The team's lawyer argued at the preliminary hearing that Manchester United is "one of the most valuable and recognized brands in the world" and that the club has a "very significant" interest in licensing its name and logo. However, naming a team without using its logo would unfairly circumvent the need to pay for it.

"The products and services licensed by the claimant benefit from the club's winning culture and association with its brand values. Consumers expect to see the club's emblem next to the name Manchester United, and such a failure amounts to an unreasonable use."

He acknowledged that this argument was "somewhat novel," but added that it was "certainly debatable."

Interestingly, he requested that the Manchester United lawsuit be amended to include a complaint about mods that allow players to add their own team logos to the game: he said that Sega and SI "encourage" and "directly benefit" from mods because they effectively allows them to use the official team logo without paying a licensing fee, he stated.

In their defense, Sega and Sports Interactive stated that the reference to the team was "legitimate" in the context of a game about soccer, and that the Manchester United name was used in this series and in earlier Championship Manager games ( They also noted that the Manchester United name has been used in this series and in earlier Championship Manager games (dating back to 1992) in the past without any allegations being made. They described the lawsuit as an attempt to thwart competition in video games

by preventing any reference to the team logo in games that have not licensed it.

They also state that Sports Interactive has sent copies of Football Manager to various Manchester United officials and players over the years, which has never triggered any complaints, and that Manchester's data analysis and scouting staff have also told SI over the years that they "seek access to the Football Manager database for scouting and research purposes."

From a more legal perspective, Football Manager also "clearly indicates that the use of [the Manchester United logo] is not licensed by the claimant."

While we don't know how much it bolsters the defense, it seems accurate that the team has never had a problem with a previous "Football Manager" game: as Kotaku reported last year, current Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær is a longtime fan of the series.

It may just be a coincidence, but the BBC reported earlier this week that Manchester United lost £28 million ($34 million) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Aside from Germany, top-flight soccer is on hiatus throughout Europe.) This is a small fraction of the $3.8 billion valuation that "Forbes" projects for 2019, third only to Real Madrid and Barcelona.

I have asked Sega and Sports Interactive for comment and will update if they reply.

Thanks, Kotaku.