A Collection of Lawsuits in Sports & Entertainment.

Throughout my education at Full Sail, I have been developing an Internet sports and entertainment network called Buckley Stone’s Network or BSNetwork. It is important to consider the legal liabilities that are associated with a business of this magnitude. BSNetwork will need to be cautious of copyright infringement, protection of the network through its employees, network personalities and protecting its potential sales through merchandising and marketing. Below are three recent examples of legal controversies regarding distribution sales, presentations and endorsements regarding sports and entertainment. 

Much of BSNetwork’s content will include rebroadcasting and analysis of films, sporting events and popular culture. It is important for the network to clear rights with owners prior to material being aired through the network.  This past week Lionsgate films took legal action against individuals who shared online copy of the unreleased Expendables 3 film. The film is set for an August 15^th release date but has been available to download in high definition, at 720p and AAC stereo sound through sites like limetorrents.com and billionuploads.com. According to Eriq Gardner of Hollywood Esq. Expendables 3 has been downloaded 2.1 million times worldwide. Lionsgate was granted a restraining order to prevent the sites to reproduce, sell or distribute the film as it is considered copyright infringement. Even with the restraining order in effect, Lionsgate doesn’t feel that such a charge is sufficient because the film company is also concerned about their relationships with theatrical exhibitors. The California judge presiding in this case has given Lionsgate permission to contact banks and advertisers to freeze accounts related to these infringing sites.

A blow like this to a film, entertainment or sports company and their original content can be extremely damaging to projects. As a result, any representations of films, sporting events and live events will not be available through BSNetwork until cleared properly by the rightful owners. 

Image Source: sportsentertainmentattorney.com

BSNetwork will need to make efforts to protect network personalities and fans and their Right of Publicity in the sale of commercial products. Therefore other competitors will not be allowed to use names, likeness, and voice of network figures for another company’s financial gain. An example that relates to protecting an entity and its performers is the O’Bannon v. NCAA case. The NCAA was trying to limit what division 1 athletes can receive for playing sports. The District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled against NCAA by stating that restraining or withholding how much players can receive is a violation of anti trust laws.  Even though students may be able to receive more money from the schools now, Wilken did reject O’Bannon’s proposal to allow student athletes to make money from endorsements. The judge concluded that products being endorsed by collegiate athletes would undermine the school’s reputation and the NCAA as a whole. It will be important that BSNetwork has the best interests of its performers as a priority while trying to find success for the network without being greedy.

Image Source: wwe.com

In the marketing and merchandising efforts of BSNetwork, it will be important for the network to reduce or completely eliminate counterfeit or inferior goods to be sold by bootleggers. In April of this year leading up to WWE’s biggest annual show WrestleMania, Vince McMahon and company attempted to obtain a restraining order to prevent their fans being sold counterfeit products from bootleggers within 5 miles of the New Orleans Superdome where the event was to take place. WWE projected 19 million dollars would be sold in merchandise sales going into the weekend extravaganza. Over the past decade, WWE and concert promoters have successfully filed restraining orders against the sale of unlicensed goods and products. The U.S. District judge ruled against McMahon and WWE, stating that WWE’s request was not directed at a specific individual defendant, person or entity. In order for WWE to successfully obtain this restraining order they needed to provide specific characteristics of the actual defendant within “broad geographic and temporal limits”. To ensure the protection of merchandise sales, BSNetwork will need to research competitors who could potentially distribute inferior goods related to the product. By distinguishing where this counterfeit sale is taking place and identifying who the individual or the group is, BSNetwork hopes to eliminate sales of illegally reproduced merchandise.