Jim Brown, an NFL legend who played for the Cleveland Browns, scored big Monday despite his retirement from the gridiron in 1965. That's because Electronic Arts, the maker of one of the world's most popular video game series—Madden NFL—has given up its lengthy court battle with the former eight-time Pro Bowl player. The publisher is giving Brown $600,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses EA of misappropriating his likeness.

Brown said he expected his case to set precedent for other players involved in similar litigation against EA concerning the right of publicity. The legal claim was first recognized in 1953 in a federal appeals court case about professional baseball cards. The claim is most often invoked by celebrities and professional athletes. For the most part, the right of publicity gives people an economic right to their names and likenesses so that they can profit from the commercial value of their identities.

“I took a stand for all athletes and laid a framework for future plaintiffs with my great legal team. Hopefully, this is a step forward in getting companies like Electronic Arts to recognize the value that athletes have in selling their products," Brown said in a statement.

The deal comes six months after a handful of former players—who are seeking class-action status to represent all NFL players who appeared in Madden NFL without their permission—beat back EA's claims that it had a First Amendment right to use the likenesses. In March, the Supreme Court refused to review the case. For the moment, it appears that EA is still trying to prevent the lawsuit from growing bigger and representing more former players. A hearing (PDF) in San Francisco federal court on the matter is set for September 22. The suit claims to represent roughly 6,000 former NFL players who appear on more than 100 teams in various editions of Madden NFL.

EA's petition (PDF) to the Supreme Court in that case had attracted widespread interest from academics and digital rights groups. The dispute had weighed the intersection of the right of publicity against modern technology that enables virtual, realistic portrayals of people—professional athletes in this case. The game maker claimed it could not be sued simply because it made a game that looked too real, and hence its games were protected First Amendment speech.

That argument didn't fly when it came to college athletes, either. In 2013, a federal appeals court sided with former NCAA college football players in their lawsuit against EA, a ruling that eventually resulted in a $40-million settlement a year later.

Meanwhile, according to Brown's lawsuit against EA, Madden NFL allowed gamers to play Brown with the 1965 Cleveland Browns, Brown's former team. The lawsuit alleged that EA asked to use his likeness, and he refused. "EA nonetheless created an avatar in the game that mimicked Brown’s height, weight, skin color, experience, team, position and ability level," Brown's defense lawyers said in a statement.