Fort Lauderdale Sports, IP & Entertainment Law Attorneys | Heitner LegalRecently, news broke that former escort, Katina Powell, wrote a book, Breaking the Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen. In it she alleges that between 2010 and 2014, a graduate assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at the University of Louisville, Andre McGee, paid her to provide strippers and sex for recruits 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 […]
The growth in the daily fantasy sports space is astonishing. The number of people playing continues to grow exponentially with more than 8 million people projected to try daily fantasy sports in 2015. During the first week of the NFL season, industry leader DraftKings, had 200,000 new user sign-ups in one day. The industry is […]
The story of a student-athlete getting into legal trouble and then transferring to a different program is not a new one. What is new is the way that conferences are beginning to handle those troubled student-athletes. In the wake of the Jonathan Taylor, University of Georgia and University of Alabama debacle, conferences across the country […]
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 […]
For those in fear of violating Title 17 of the United States Code the next time they attend a friend’s birthday party, you are now in luck. This past Tuesday, United States District Judge George H. King ruled that Warner Music Group’s (“Warner/Chappell”) claim of copyright in the song “Happy Birthday” was legally ineffective, therefore […]
Golf is a great sport. I’ve been promising myself that I’m going to get around to really learning how to play. And the excitement from this weekend may have given me the final nudge I need. As I did my routine check of the sports blogs I learned that there was a big brouhaha at […]
Who’s excited about football being back in full swing? Me. As I watched with excitement during week 1 my eyes were particularly fixed on FedExField and the Washington Redskins. I’m a fan. I’ve been one since I can remember and, no matter how many times they let me down, I’ll probably be one until the […]
Adidas has been at the center of several intellectual property claims the past few years involving its famous three-stripe pattern allegedly being imitated by competing shoe companies. This time, the shoe giant isn’t just alleging that its logo was copied, but rather, an entire shoe design. Earlier this week, Adidas filed a complaint in the […]
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 […]
Roughly two months after United States District Judge Claudia Wilken approved a $60 million settlement that would compensate past collegiate players for the NCAA’s use of their name, image, and likeness in video games manufactured by Electronic Arts (EA Sports) from the years 2003 to 2014 – a decision currently being appealed by the NCAA […]
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 […]