Highlights

  • A Rumble in the Garden

    On February 8th, retired New York Knicks star Charles Oakley was forcibly removed from Madison Square Garden (MSG) during a Knicks-Clippers game. Oakley was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of criminal trespass after he got into a scuffle with a number of MSG security officials. He is accused of striking one security official in the face and for pushing two other security officials as they attempted to intervene. While Oakley contends that he did nothing wrong, Knicks officials claim that he was causing trouble and was bothering Knicks owner James Dolan. According to Sports Illustrated, Dolan […]

  • What’s in a hangtag? that which we call Coach

    According to the The Fashion Law, Coach filed an action in a Manhattan federal court in February 2017 against various defendants for creating and distributing products that allegedly infringe upon its intellectual property. Interestingly, and rather unusually, Coach is not only seeking trademark protection, but also protection of trade dress of its hangtag design. Trade dress refers to the total image of a product, including its design and shape, which serves as an indicator of the product’s source and of the brand even when the brand’s name is not present. In order for trade dress to be protectable, it must be non-functional and […]

  • When Politics and Sports Collide

    In early January 2017, Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst unveiled Senate Bill 6, which, if passed, would prohibit the enforcement of local nondiscrimination ordinances allowing transgender people in Texas to use the bathroom of their choice and would instead require all those in Texas to use the bathroom that matches their “biological sex” in government buildings and public schools. In response, the NBA and NFL warned the Lone Start State that passing the proposed transgender “bathroom bill” would be met with consequences. This is not the first time the two most popular American sports leagues have actively opposed certain proposed pieces […]

  • Wet Seal’s Last-Stitch Effort Fails

    Wet Seal is the latest retailer to close its doors. In late January, news outlets reported that the retail chain planned to close all locations. Wet Seal, which targets the 18-24 demographic, proceeded to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in early February. As reported by Fortune, the company listed assets between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities anywhere from $50 million to $100 million. After being unable to raise new capital or find a buyer, a Delaware judge approved the liquidation of the once popular clothing chain’s assets through shutdown sales in all stores. According to Law360, the company is also seeking to […]

  • Nationwide Sports Gambling? Bet On It.

    The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992, also known as the Bradley Act, expressly prohibits sports betting nationwide with four exceptions: Oregon, Delaware, Montana, and, most notably, Nevada. Nevertheless, online gambling for real money remains an enormous industry, with the American Gaming Association estimating that “as much as $90 billion would be wagered on the NFL… season” alone, including “as much as $4.7 billion” on the Super Bowl, with 97% of it done illegally. Betting on sports has long been a contentious issue in the U.S. but it may soon become a moot point if New Jersey gets its […]

  • The End of Amateurism in College Football?

    The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Richard Griffin released a memo in late January stating that football players at private universities and colleges should qualify as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As SportsLawInsider reports, the memo noted that these players should be afforded the Act’s Section 7 protections, which would give players the right to self-organize and engage in collective bargaining over issues such as player safety and financial compensation. The NLRB had previously refused to grant private college football players the status of employees when it dismissed a unionization attempt by Northwestern University’s football team, […]

  • Virtual Reality Becomes a $500 Million Actual Reality for Facebook

    Oculus, the Facebook-owned virtual reality (VR) company, was ordered by a jury to pay $500 million in damages to ZeniMax last week, concluding a multi-year lawsuit. As reported by Business Insider, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testified that Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 for nearly $3 billion as a way to be a pioneer in the VR arena. Shortly thereafter, ZeniMax, a media company known for popular video games such as the Doom and Fallout series developed by its subsidiaries, sued Oculus for $2 billion. The case centered around John Carmack, a former ZeniMax employee who left the company to join Oculus […]

  • Beyoncé to Get Lawyers in “Formation”

    As reported by Law360, the estate of deceased YouTube performer, Anthony Barré, has filed a suit against Beyoncé and Sony Music Entertainment seeking $20 million in damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief for copyright infringement. The complaint alleges that the pop star sampled phrases from Barré’s YouTube videos in her 2016 chart-topping hit “Formation.” Barré gained a following on YouTube under the name “Messy Mya” before he was murdered in New Orleans in 2010. According to the complaint filed in the Eastern District Court of Louisiana, the opening line of the “Formation” music video, “What happened at the New […]

  • The NBA and Trump’s Immigration Ban

    Over the past few weeks, President Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on visas and refugees has dominated the news. Executive orders, which are legally binding directives made by the President in order to direct federal agencies, are often controversial, however Trump’s immigration EO seems to have procured more negative attention than any EO in recent history. According to USA Today, in addition to suspending all refugee resettlement into the U.S. for four months (and refugee settlement from Syria indefinitely), Trump suspended U.S. entry by citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) on non-immigrant visas, including […]

  • Time for the NFL to Reconsider Marijuana Policy?

    As public opinion towards marijuana continues to warm, there is talk that, in the not too distant future, NFL players may be able to partake in using the popular drug. Currently, 16 of the 32 professional football teams are located in states that have legalized at least the medicinal use of marijuana, according to the NFL. However, the drug is listed as a banned substance under the League’s collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) that applies to all teams, including players, and those found in violation of this policy through the NFL’s routine testing are subject to suspension. As CNN reports, while NFL Commissioner […]

  • Paging the Fashion Police

    As reported by The Fashion Law, in an ironic turn of events, retailer Forever 21, which has been sued over 50 times in recent years for copying others’ protected designs, has filed suit against C. Luce and CornerStone Apparel (doing business as TCEC and Papaya Clothing, respectively) for infringing on one of its protected designs. The suit centers around the pattern on Ikat printed harem pants, and while the specific items of clothing potentially infringing on Forever 21’s protected designs are not identified in the complaint, Yahoo! Style contains pictures of the allegedly infringing Papaya pants that contain a seemingly similar style to those offered by Forever 21. […]

  • The Multimillion Dollar End to a Multimillion Dollar Scandal

    On May 27, 2015, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced an investigation into Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that has exposed illegal bribery schemes amounting to over $150 million. As reported by Reuters, U.S. prosecutors recently reached an agreement valued at $112.8 million with Argentine sports media group, Torneos y Competencias SA, after the conglomerate was charged with bribing soccer officials in order to acquire broadcasting rights for the 2018, 2022, 2026, and 2030 World Cup games along with paying bribes and giving kickbacks to high-ranking soccer officials for over 15 years in order to obtain other lucrative media and […]

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