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After Latest Allegations, Namco Demands Pac-Man Jones To Stop Using Their Name
by Kris on 2/26/2007 (2) 
 | | Don't get too used to this uniform, he'll probably be wearing an orange jumpsuit sooner rather than later. | | When Adam "Pac-Man" Jones was taken sixth overall in the 2005 National Football League Draft by the Tennessee Titans, Namco executives were ecstatic. Sure they thought it was great that a young black man made it out of the mean streets of Atlanta, Georgia and was about to embark on a journey that would net him more money and fame than you could shake a pointy stick at, but it was really their own profit possibilities that intrigued them.
In 1979, Namco developed a little known game that they dubbed Pac-Man after a cocaine induced vision one of their programmers had late one night in which he thought he was being chased through a giant maze by fruit flavored ghosts and the only way to escape was to eat all the Corn Pops cereal. The game was simplistic to say the least, not even featuring save points, leveling up, or any sort of online play, and as a result bombed horribly. More than likely, this is the first time you've ever heard of such a game.
With the drafting of Pac-Man Jones, Namco executives finally saw the chance to regain some of those profits that they never made and bring the Pac-Man name into nation prominence.
"Just look at what Michael Jordan did for underwear," said Namco CEO James Blinky. "Before Jordan, no one wore them, now everyone does. That's what a sports star can do for your product."
Unfortunately the dream went horribly wrong as Pac-Man Jones just couldn't stay out of off the field trouble. In 2005 Jones was arrested for assault and felony vandalism charges at a night club. In 2006, he was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and then again later that year for spitting in a woman's face. The final straw came just last week as Jones showered strippers with over $80,000 and set off a riot of sorts in a Las Vegas strip club that eventually culminated with a person in Jones' entourage shooting into the crowd and hitting three people.
Despite the fact that the two have nothing to do with one another other than sharing a name, Pac-Man video game sales plummeted to their lowest level since 1996 as a public backlash erupted against Pac-Man Jones.
"That's that game about that guy that always gets in trouble at the strip clubs," said random street interviewee Geoff Hart. "No way am I going to buy anything that supports that douche bag."
It is with that line of thinking in mind that Namco is now demanding that Pac-Man Jones quits using the moniker immediately or face legal recourse.
"When it was good publicity, obviously we weren't going to make a big deal about him using a copyrighted name," said Namco legal consultant Tim Inky. "Now that he's a fuckup, we can't have that."
The Pac-Man name has been copyrighted in the United States since 1979 and cannot legally be used without permission of Namco. Violators of this copyright face fines of up to $5,000 and 90 days in jail, whichever is determined to be more demeaning.
Representatives for Pac-Man Jones have yet to reply to the requests of Namco. They have been given 90 days to ceases and desist using the name less face the full wraith of the American Judicial system./tds/
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