NBA2K16 Lawsuit Questions Who Owns Tattoos

A tattoo licensing company, Solid Oak Sketches LLC, is suing NBA2K, the professional basketball video game series, for copyright infringement. Solid Oak argues that the realistic depiction of tattoos on the bodies of multiple NBA players, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, in the NBA2K16 video game violated the copyright that Solid Oak owns. On April 19, 2016, the makers of the video game filed for a motion to dismiss the claim.

Solid Oaks  obtained the license to most of the tattoos from the original …

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MLB Wins Partial Dismissal in Stadium Netting Suit

MLB partially won its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit over stadium netting. A California federal judge recently ruled that the court lacked authority over the claims against out-of-state MLB teams.

The lawsuit arose in July 2015, when named plaintiff Gail Payne brought suit against all 30 MLB teams and Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred. The complaint alleged that MLB failed to protect fans with proper safety netting. Payne, a longtime season ticket holder of the Oakland A’s, claimed she once had to …

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Judge May Revive Wrongful Death Suit Against NHL

 In December, an Illinois judge granted summary judgment dismissing the wrongful death claim Derek Boogaard’s parents brought against the NHL. After years of fighting for their son, the judge recently indicated that two counts of their amended complaint may be sufficient for the case to proceed.

Boogaard was an NHL enforcer for six years; he played for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers. In 2011, Boogaard died of an overdose after years of fighting, sustaining various injuries, and becoming addicted to painkillers. After …

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CBS Responds to Lawsuit Over Royalties Dispute for Judge Judy

On Friday, April 15, 2016, attorneys for television-giant CBS and its entertainment parent company, Big Ticket Entertainment, responded to a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court back in March by a talent agent claiming entitlement to disgorged profits and royalties from the largely successful Judge Judy television program. The complaint, which was filed by agent Richard Lawrence on behalf of his current company, Rebel Entertainment, alleges that it represented two executive producers of the “Judge Judy” program who developed the idea of the …

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Third Circuit Unanimously Votes to Uphold NFL Concussion Settlement

On Monday, April 18, 2016, the dramatized litigation battle between a class of former professional football players, their loved ones, and the NFL may have potentially come to an end as the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which oversees federal district courts located in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, affirmed an uncapped settlement agreed to in 2015. The Third Circuit panel, writing in a unanimous opinion, found that both the uncapped settlement itself was fair and that the class …

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Wife of Deceased Quarterback Joins NFL Concussion Suit

Almost immediately after the release of the New York Times article that claimed the NFL used faulty data in its concussion research, the NFL faced yet another class action lawsuit. Since the article’s release, the NFL has disputed the allegations. The NFL threatened a defamation lawsuit in its demand that the Times retract the article. However, the Times refused to retract and has defended its reporting.

About a week after this class action was filed, Rose Stabler, wife of deceased Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny Stabler, …

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NCAA Heading to Trial Over Student-Athlete’s Fatal Head Injury

In 2011, 22-year old Derek Sheely, a former Frostburg State University football player, allegedly died from head injuries after participating in physically rough practice drills.

After the death of their son, Sheely’s parents brought suit against the NCAA in 2013, claiming that the practice drills in which their son participated had been described by certain National Football League teams as “extremely dangerous, intolerable and meaningless.” The parents ultimately claim that the NCAA should not have allowed the drills to occur.

The NCAA argued that …

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ESPN Claims Tweet was Lawful in Jason Pierre-Paul’s Civil Suit

On Thursday April 7, 2016, ESPN told a Florida federal court that it cannot be held liable for a tweet sent out by reporter Adam Schefter in 2015, where images of New York Giants defensive star Jason Pierre-Paul’s medical records were uploaded to the internet. The case stems from an incident in the summer of 2015, where Schefter, one of ESPN’s most popular NFL insiders, was covering the story of Pierre-Paul’s July 4th fireworks accident, in which he blew off part of his right …

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Former Wrestler and WWE Spar Over Royalties

Pro wrestler Rene Goguen brought a class action law suit against World Wrestling Entertainment in Connecticut federal court on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. This suit arises just days after WrestleMania, WWE’s biggest event of the year. The complaint alleges that wrestlers should be paid royalties from streaming services, such as the World Wrestling Entertainment Network (WWEN) and Netflix.

WWE’s outside counsel, Jerry McDevitt, is not concerned, stating the complaint lacks merit. According to McDevitt, Goguen and other wrestlers signed contracts which preclude the wrestlers from …

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True Intentions: Fans, Sports Team Clash Over Restrictions on Game Ticket Resale

Recently, there has been mounting tension between sports fans attempting to resell game tickets for their favorite teams and the very teams they support. Within the past few weeks for example, both the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Timberwolves have instituted policies requiring fans to present “verified electronic tickets” if using a ticket from a mobile device. Although “ticket scalping” has seemingly been around since the beginning of time, many of these limitations come in the wake of the rising popularity of resale platforms …

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