Litigation Between Charles Oakley, MSG, and James Dolan Begins

On January 12, 2018, at a pre-motion conference, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan told the attorney of former New York Knick, Charles Oakley, that his client’s defamation claim against the owner of the New York Knicks, James Dolan, and Madison Square Garden (MSG) would be an “uphill climb.” Oakley’s attorney replied, “A lot of judges say things like that and then reverse course.” As we previously covered, in September 2017, Oakley sued Dolan and MSG for allegedly humiliating him when he was kicked …

January 21, 2018 Fantasy Sports

Cloud Computing Patent Suit Claims Latest Victim: FanDuel

On January 11, 2018, PersonalWeb Technologies, LLC sued FanDuel, Inc. for infringing five of PersonalWeb’s cloud computing patents. Cloud computing, also known as “the cloud,” is the delivery of on-demand computing resources in everything from applications to data center, sent over the internet on a pay-for-use basis.

In the complaint, PersonalWeb alleges that FanDuel’s website uses PersonalWeb’s patented material for the manufacture, use, sale, importation, offer of services, and the distribution of its webpage content. More specifically, PersonalWeb claims that FanDuel illegally uses: (1) a system of …

January 20, 2018 eSports / Soccer

MLS Joins eSports Phenomenon

On January 12, 2018, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that it partnered with Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) to create an eSports league, eMLS. The league will feature the best EA Sports FIFA 18 players in the United States and Canada. eSports is a form of competitive video gaming where gamers participate in tournaments such as the International, the League of Legends World Championship, the Evolution Championship Series, and the Intel Extreme Masters, in order to win cash prizes.

Nineteen of the 23 MLS teams will …

January 19, 2018 Litigation / NFL

Harvard Law Professor’s Assessment on Attorney’s Fees Sparks Opposition

As we previously reported, lingering issues over the NFL concussion litigation settlement have reemerged. The final settlement established an uncapped fund that would last over a 65-year period, to compensate a class of over 20,000 former NFL players. In May 2017, a collection of law firms representing the players, filed a petition seeking $112.5 million common-benefit fee to compensate the class of attorneys. Unlike traditional common-fund cases where the common-benefit fees are calculated as a percentage of total recovery; in this case, the NFL …

January 19, 2018 Litigation / NFL / Privacy Rights

San Francisco 49ers Must Hand Over Attendee Information

On January 5, 2017, Judge Susan van Keulen granted a class of mobility-disabled persons, suing the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara, request for information about people who purchased accessible seating tickets at Levi’s Stadium. The suit originally began in December 2016 when Abdul Nevarez sued the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara, owners of Levi’s Stadium, for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Nevarez, who requires the use of a wheelchair for mobility, attended four games …

January 18, 2018 NCAA

Judge Wilken Listens to Additional Arguments on College Athlete Compensation

On January 16, 2018, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken once again presided over a court where a class of college athletes attempted to obtain a judgement that would lift the cap on college athlete’s compensation. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) argued that this most recent class-action suit is barred by the Ninth Circuit’s September 2015 O’Bannon decision.

As we have continued to cover, back in 2014, Judge Wilken presided over the O’Bannon decision, where she sided with the college athletes in an …

January 18, 2018 Basketball / Litigation

Ice Cube’s Big3 Moves to Dismiss Champions Complaint

On January 12, 2017, lawyers representing Ice Cube’s Big3 Basketball, LLC asked a New York federal court judge to dismiss a suit brought by Champions League, Inc. (Champions). Back on October 2017, Big3 submitted a memorandum of law in support of its motion to dismiss. As we have previously covered, rapper and actor, Ice Cube, owns the 3-on-3 basketball league, Big3. Big3 is a ten-week season that features several former NBA players, including Ron Artest, Corey Maggette, Kendall Gill, and most recently, Nate …

January 17, 2018 NCAA

Former USC Linebacker Attempts to Revive NCAA Suit

A former University of Southern California linebacker, Lamar Dawson, again tried to convince the Ninth Circuit to revive his class action suit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12). As we have previously covered, Dawson began the class-action lawsuit in September 2016 alleging the NCAA and Pac-12 violated California law and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not paying college football players a minimum wage or overtime. “The reality of the relationship between the students and the universities …

January 16, 2018 Fantasy Sports

New York State Collects $3 Million from Legal Fantasy Sports

On January 10, 2017, at a hearing, Peter Schoenke, chairman of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), told the New York State Racing and Wagering Committee that New York State would receive more than $3 million in tax revenue generated between January and November 2017, from daily sports fantasy operations. The $3 million is just an estimate and is expected to increase considering figures from December 2017 have yet to be finalized. The object of the hearing was to review the Daily …

Dispute Over the Trademark “Green Jacket” Continues

On January 10, 2018, Green Jacket Auctions filed suit in Georgia federal court and back on January 2, 2018, Green Jacket Auctions filed an identical suit in Florida federal court. Both suits seek to prevent the transfer of the domain name “greenjacketauctions.com” from Green Jacket Auctions to Augusta National, Inc., host of the annual Masters Golf Tournament.

Green Jacket Auctions is an online golf memorabilia auctioneer and appraiser. The company was formed in 2006 by its two, and only employees, Ryan Carey and Bob Zafian. …

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