Fort Lauderdale Sports, IP & Entertainment Law Attorneys | Heitner Legal
The University of Florida’s O’Connell Center has brokered its first naming rights deal. The arena will re-open in mid-December 2016 with Exactech as the naming rights sponsor. Kevin Brockway of The Gainesville Sun asked UF and UF Levin College of Law graduate Darren Heitner for commentary on the deal. Naming rights deals on stadiums and arenas serve different […]
It is a lot easier to steal a laptop than it is to hack into a corporate database. The Internet erupts every time a hacker compromises data of millions of customers, but it remains silent when a laptop containing data of thousands of employees is stolen. However, that is not the case when an athletic […]
CJ LaBoy and Doug Hendrickson served as sports agents for Octagon. Both signed agreements with NFL players to serve as the players’ representatives in contract negotiations with NFL teams. In exchange, the players agreed to provide the sports agents with a percentage of the negotiated contract. In turn, Plaintiffs agreed to provide this fee to […]
On December 4, 2015, Ricardo and Vanessa Virgil filed a Class Action Complaint in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York against Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. based on the company “collecting, storing, using, disclosing, and disseminating” individuals’ biometric identifiers and biometric information. Take-Two is the publisher, developer, and distributor of […]
In a decision handed down this past Wednesday, a California Court of Appeals ruled that Asfaw Teferi, a soccer executive for a team in the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (“ESFNA”), was not a public figure for the purposes of his defamation lawsuit. This opinion could have implications for other sports executives in non-major […]
As was to be expected, the Rams departure from St. Louis will not come without its struggles. Only one day after the NFL owners voted to allow the Rams to relocate from St. Louis to Los Angeles, four Rams fans filed a lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court seeking class-action status and an unspecified amount […]
The Washington Redskins surprising success on the field this year may soon extend to the courtroom. In June of 2014, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) canceled the registration of six trademarks belonging to the football team under the disparagement provision of Section 2(a) of […]
A class action lawsuit led by plaintiff Adam Johnson has been filed in the Southern District of New York against DraftKings and FanDuel (two other class action lawsuits have been filed against DraftKings and FanDuel since, with more likely to come). The complaint alleges claims of negligence, fraud and misrepresentation, violation of the Kentucky Consumer […]
These days, it’s nearly impossible to watch any sporting event or program without seeing an advertisement for daily fantasy sports. The fantasy and gaming industry has seen enormous growth, and that trend looks to continue as one of the leading DFS providers moves into the new realm of eSports. DraftKings announced that it will be […]
It was recently announced that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey will be reviewing the legality behind DraftKings – the Boston, Massachusetts based daily fantasy sports operator known as one of the leaders behind the ever-evolving daily fantasy sports industry. This review comes on the heels of United States Representative Frank Pallone requesting a committee hearing […]
With the continued growth of athletes and celebrities as role models in addition to the continued importance of intellectual property in their lives, it raises the question of whether they can trademark their names. “Under §2(e)(f) of the Trademark Act, a mark that is primarily a surname [family name] is not registrable on the Principal […]
As expected, this past week the state of New Jersey – along with the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association – formally filed its request for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear arguments in the recently decided sports betting case. This Gaming Law issue comes on the heels of the state’s 2-1 defeat in […]