Miami Heat to Cut Ties With Bankrupt FTX, Rename Arena
Miami-Dade County and the Miami Heat are ending their arena naming rights deal with bankrupt cryptocurrency firm FTX. The county, which owns the arena, signed a 19-year, $135 million deal for the bayfront Heat homecourt's name in 2021. After an initial balloon payment of $14 million, FTX was scheduled to make a $5.5 million payment in January.

(Source: ESPN, November 11, 2022) 

Deezer’s CEO Charts a Streaming War Battle Plan
Deezer is shifting from targeting small and emerging territories to renewing its focus on large and established music markets, where consumers are more willing to pay for subscriptions. In August, Folgueira forged a partnership with German broadcast giant RTL Deutschland to deliver music and video content in a single app — RTL+ Musik — putting Deezer in a stronger position to compete with Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, China’s Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and YouTube Music. Folgueira calls the RTL tie-up a “transformative” deal that gives Deezer the scale it needs to break into Germany, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music market, with revenue of $1.6 billion in 2021, up 12.6% from 2020, according to IFPI. 

(Source: Billboard, November 8, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

Why Music Supervisors Are Clashing With Netflix
Music supervisor Nora Felder was instrumental in selecting and securing approvals for the hit 1980s song, which catapulted to No. 1 on several musical charts after its airing on “Stranger Things.” Yet, despite their increasingly important role in suggesting such songs and curating music for shows, music supervisors say they aren’t getting the pay and benefits shared by their unionized peers.

(Source: Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2022)

 

With a Looming Recession, Will Music Fans Still Buy Concert Tickets?
This past summer, the second-largest U.S. bank, Bank of America, looked at how its customers’ spending on entertainment for the month of May compared with a year ago. What researchers found was surprisingly positive for the touring industry, and there are signs the good news is holding steady, at least for now. Spending on concert, theater and movie tickets in May was up across all income groups. Moderate- and high-income earners — households bringing in over $50,000 and over $125,000 in annual income, respectively — exhibited the most pent-up demand, with spending levels up more than 40% in May compared with May 2021.

(Source: Billboard, November 4, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs To Acquire Cannabis Businesses for up to $185M
Hip-hop mogul and businessman Sean “Diddy” Combs is venturing into the world of cannabis. Combs has agreed to acquire licensed cannabis operations in New York, Massachusetts and Illinois from Cresco Labs Inc. and Columbia Care Inc., in a deal worth up to $185 million. The transaction marks Combs’ first investment in cannabis and will create the country’s first minority-owned, vertically integrated multi-state cannabis company, as well as the world’s largest Black-owned cannabis company, according to a release from Combs and the companies.

(Source: CNBC, November 4, 2022)

 

Roku’s ‘Weird’ Science: How it Plans To Win the (Free) Streaming Wars
Streaming platforms don’t live or die on the strength of an individual show or movie, but one project can make a huge difference. Netflix, for example, was taken a lot more seriously as an original programmer after Orange Is the New Black emerged as a pop-culture phenom in July 2013, proving earlier buzz for House of Cards was not a fluke. Prime Video had a similar breakthrough in 2017 with the arrival of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, while more recently Apple TV+ found pop-culture salvation through the gospel of Ted Lasso. Now, Roku is poised to have its own moment of validation thanks to a very unlikely recruit in the content wars: “Weird Al” Yankovic.

(Source: Vulture, November 3, 2022)

 

Global Value of Music Copyright Jumps 18% to a Record High of $39.6BN in 2021: Could it Have Been Even Higher?
In 2021, music copyright was worth $39.6bn – considerably more than the $25.9bn reported in the same year’s IFPI Global Music Report (GMR), and up 18 percent from 2020. The post-pandemic fallout has seen consumer subscriptions and ad-funded streaming continue to soar, whereas business-to-business licensing by CMOs has only partially recovered. The two most notable changes beneath the headline figure are the explosive growth in label revenues from streaming and the annual growth of the songwriter CMOs’ collections. Performing right income dominates this segment, and within that general purpose licensing (e.g. restaurants, retail and concerts) makes up a significant share. There’s clear evidence of a post-pandemic bounce back with collections up by almost 10 percent, yet still trailing behind its pre-pandemic 2019 figure.

(Source: Tarzan Economics, November 3, 2022)

 

How Taylor Swift Changed the Course of the Concert Ticketing Businesses
After piloting the program with Jay-Z in early 2018, Ticketmaster began implementing its new pricing strategy for Swift’s Reputation Tour later that year. Compared to the 1989 tour, the Reputation Tour average ticket price was only about 10% more, but the best seats in the venue were priced significantly higher than in past years, thanks to new Ticketmaster tools that allowed it to optimize a venue’s seat map on a seat-by-seat basis. Ticketmaster also created a fan identification tool for Swift called SwiftTix, which had fans register in advance for an opportunity to buy tickets during the show’s presale, with their place in line partially boosted by purchasing fan merch and posting about the Reputation tour online. Today, the pricing strategy Swift used has become a staple of how most major tours are priced to capture more profit for artists, while advance registration has become a staple of most high-demand shows. For the Eras tour, for example, fans who register in advance get first crack at tickets while those held onto tickets for Swift’s canceled 2020 Lover Fest shows received even higher priority access for the Nov. 16 onsale.

(Source: Billboard, November 3, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Music Labels Win $46.7 Mln From Internet Provider in Piracy Trial
Internet service provider Astound Broadband's Grande Communications Networks LLC must pay a group of music labels $46.7 million after its users pirated over 1,400 copyrighted works, a federal jury in Austin, Texas, decided. Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Records and other labels convinced the jury that San Marcos, Texas-based Grande committed willful contributory copyright infringement by failing to act against subscribers who were repeat infringers.

(Source: Reuters, November 3, 2022)

 

Alec Baldwin Can’t Escape Lawsuit From ‘Rust’ Script Supervisor
Alec Baldwin must face a lawsuit from Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell over his role in the on-set shooting that resulted in the death and injury of two crewmembers, a judge has ruled. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker on Tuesday refused to dismiss claims of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence against the actor. He found that Mitchell established “extreme and outrageous conduct on the part of Baldwin,” who “unexpectedly cocked and fired a loaded handgun” despite being aware of a disastrous safety culture on the set of Rust where producers shirked industry-wide norms related to the use of guns to shoot the movie on a shoestring budget.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, November 2, 2022)

 

Obscure Copyright Rule Change Might Be Big Win for Songwriters
The U.S. Copyright Office is quietly proposing a new rule to make sure that songwriters who invoke their termination rights actually get paid their streaming royalties, overturning a previous “erroneous” policy that could potentially have kept sending money to former owners in perpetuity. Starting in 2020, groups like the Recording Academy raised alarm bells that a policy adopted by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the entity that collects and distributes streaming royalties) might lead to a bizarre outcome: Even after a writer takes back control of their songs, royalties might still flow to the old publishers that no longer own them — forever.

(Source: Billboard, November 2, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

‘Game of Thrones’ NFTs Are Coming
This winter, HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery will fire up a new way to engage “Game of Thrones” fans — and generate incremental revenue — with the launch of digital-collectible NFTs based on the epic fantasy franchise. Warner Bros. Discovery’s consumer products group announced plans for “Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm,” which will let users purchase unique NFTs as well as trade and sell them.

(Source: Variety, November 2, 2022)

 

Disney Launches Exclusive E-commerce Offering for Streaming Subscribers
Starting Tuesday, Disney+ subscribers can buy merchandise from Star Wars, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness before the general public and will get exclusive access to merchandise from Frozen 2 and Lightyear. The merch is available for purchase by shopping online at shopDisney or by scanning QR codes within the details pages of movies, series and shorts on Disney+. This is the first big push into e-commerce for the streaming service, following a September report from The Wall Street Journal saying that Disney was exploring an Amazon Prime style model for its subscription services, in which members would receive discounts on merchandise, theme parks and more. 

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, November 2, 2022)

 

Judge Blocks Penguin Random House’s Purchase of Simon & Schuster
A federal judge blocked Penguin Random House from buying Simon & Schuster, arguing that the combination of the two book business giants would illegally reduce competition. The ruling, most of which remained confidential, comes nearly a year after the Justice Department sued to block the deal. US District Court Judge Florence Pan agreed with the Biden administration that the deal should not be allowed to go forward.

(Source: CNN, October 31, 2022)

 

Coachella Files Yet Another Trademark Lawsuit, This Time Against a Coachillin Cannabis Park
AEG’s Goldenvoice – as owner of the Coachella Festival – has filed yet another lawsuit against a company using a brand that allegedly trades off the reputation of the big old Californian music event. This time the targeted company goes by the name Coachillin Holdings. That company’s main venture is the Coachillin Industrial Business Park which aims to be, and I quote, “a centre of excellence and innovation, setting a new standard of sustainability for California’s budding cannabis industry.”

(Source: Complete Music Update, October 28, 2022)

 

Georgia Voter Sues Over False Election Fraud Accusation in ‘2000 Mules’
An auditor from Gwinnett County who was falsely accused of election fraud in the film “2000 Mules” is suing the movie’s makers, Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote, alleging they lied to advance a phony narrative at his expense. The lawsuit filed in federal court said that Mark Andrews faced threats of violence and lives in fear since he was included in the movie without his knowledge or permission. The movie shows Andrews, with his face blurred, as he deposits five ballots for himself and his family into a drop box before the 2020 presidential election. As the video rolls, D’Souza says: “What you are seeing is a crime. These are fraudulent votes.”

(Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 27, 2022)

 

Road Weary: Why Some Country Artists Are Rethinking Touring as Costs, Competition Balloon
The live-show reboot has come with its challenges. The volume of acts has caused logistical problems, including a shortage of available tour buses and operators to drive them. The loss of some venues during the shutdown — particularly at the club level — has increased competition among touring acts for bookings in the remaining outlets, creating routing issues. And artists in smaller venues often encounter spotty attendance, thanks to the glut of concert options for a fan base that isn’t entirely back: 20% of American adults remain uncomfortable with the prospect of attending mass public events, according to a May survey by CivicScience.

(Source: Billboard, October 27, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Crypto Hacks Have Siphoned $3B in Record Time: How Safe Is Music on the Blockchain?
Experts say the main vulnerabilities for the NFT space lie in smart contracts. These are programs written by developers on top of blockchains like Ethereum that hold funds and execute transactions — such as paying out royalties on secondary sales. “Smart contracts are just buggy and can be exploited,” says Nic Carter — partner at Castle Island Ventures, a VC firm with several Web3 music investments. “Things are so new in the crypto space that developers are still learning the best practices for safety.”

(Source: Billboard, October 26, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

NCAA Provides Updated Nil Rules Guidance to Member Schools
The NCAA's Division I Board of Directors approved on Wednesday new guidance to members on name, image and likeness activities, clarifying how schools, coaches and staffers can be involved with athletes' endorsement and sponsorship deals. The latest clarifications to the NCAA's interim NIL policy create no new rules, but are intended to give athletic departments a better idea of what types of support fall outside existing bylaws.

(Source: ESPN, October 26, 2022)

 

Court Revives Michael Chiesa’s Claim Against Conor McGregor in Barclays’ Bus Lawsuit
On April 5 2018, MMA superstar Conor McGregor made headlines after going on a violent tirade in the loading dock of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. McGregor was caught on camera throwing a hand truck through a bus window carrying UFC 223 fighters. One of those fighters was Michael Chiesa. Chiesa claimed the propelled hand truck broke the bus window, causing its handle and glass from the shattered window to strike him, lacerating his face. With that, Chiesa filed suit in New York against McGregor and McGregor Sports and Entertainment, LLC (“MSE”) in 2018. Chiesa alleged, among other causes of action: assault, battery, and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 

(Source: Conduct Detrimental, October 26, 2022)

 

Yeezy Without the Ye? Who Is New ‘Sole’ Owner
In its statement, Adidas said that it would “end production of Yeezy branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.” But scroll down, look at the last paragraph of the company’s announcement and you’ll find an intriguing sentence that is raising eyebrows in the industry (and seemed to come straight from Adidas’ legal team). “Adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership.” Let’s flag this part: “Sole owner of all design rights…”

(Source: CNN, October 25, 2022)

 

As Adidas Severs Yeezy Deal With Kanye West, What Happens Next?
Entered into in 2016 and slated to run until 2026, the Yeezy arrangement saw West license the Yeezy brand name to adidas in exchange for royalties of approximately 15 percent of the sales of Yeezy products. (West’s Mascotte Holdings is the sole holder of the trademark rights in – and registrations for – “Yeezy” and “YZY” for use on footwear and apparel, which West’s corporate entity licensed to adidas for use in connection with the footwear collection. This enabled West to monetize this intellectual property (and bring in royalties), while still maintaining complete ownership over the Yeezy brand.)

(Source: The Fashion Law, October 25, 2022)

 

Will Apple Music Subscription Rise Spur Rivals To Follow?
A $1 price increase adds just over $137k of extra royalties a month in the pockets of songwriters and artists (after rightsholders have taken their cuts) per million Apple Music individual subscribers. Scale that up to a year ($1.6m of extra royalties per million subscribers), then scale it up to however many million people Apple Music has paying for individual subscriptions (for argument’s sake, if it were 70 million people that’s $115.4m of extra royalties a year), then scale it up to many more if other DSPs were to follow suit and…

(Source: Music Ally, October 25, 2022)

 

Inside the Secret ‘Rust’ Settlement: Why Did Halyna Hutchins’ Widower Drop His Suit To Become an Executive Producer?
Legal experts detail what the estate and the producers stand to gain by calling a truce and teaming up to complete the movie on which star Alec Baldwin fatally shot the DP in October 2021.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, October 25, 2022)

 

Johnny Depp Sues Professor Who Accused Him of Plagiarizing Song on His New Album, Calls Claim an ‘Old-Fashioned Shakedown’
Actor and musician Johnny Depp and his friend and “musical soulmate” Jeff Beck have filed a lawsuit against a professor and folklorist who accused them of plagiarizing one of the songs on their latest album, “18.” The defendant, Bruce Jackson, claimed that one of the rock duo’s new songs lifts lyrics directly from Slim Wilson, a Missouri prisoner featured heavily in Jackson’s 1974 book “Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me.”

(Source: Law & Crime, October 24, 2022)

 

Disney, ESPN Officially Ink New Long-Term Rights Deal With Formula 1
Formula 1 is staying with Disney. The auto racing juggernaut, which is in the midst of a global resurgence in popularity, has signed a new multi-year deal with The Walt Disney Co., running through the 2025 season. The deal was officially announced at the Formula 1 Aramco U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. The new deal will see at least 16 races air on ABC and ESPN each season, in the commercial-free format ESPN has been using in its current F1 deal. Critically for ESPN, however, the deal also includes streaming rights, with F1 races to come to the ESPN+ streaming service.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, October 22, 2022)

 

Kevin Durant Latest Sports Star To Own Pickleball Franchise
Kevin Durant has joined the list of superstar athletes to own a pickleball team. Durant was announced Thursday as an owner of a Major League Pickleball expansion team, along with manager Rich Kleiman and their joint Thirty Five Ventures. "35V is committed to investing in the future of sports and emerging opportunities, and Major League Pickleball is a league we are incredibly excited about," Kleiman said in a news release. "We can't wait to build this team from the ground up as well as work to elevate the sport and the league to unprecedented heights. As an avid pickleball player and fan, the interest in the sport was a natural fit."

(Source: ESPN, October 20, 2022) 

 

Concussion Lawsuit Against NCAA Could Be First To Reach Jury
A lawsuit alleging the NCAA failed to protect a former University of Southern California football player from repetitive head trauma is nearing trial in a Los Angeles court. The wrongful death suit filed by Matthew Gee’s widow says the former USC linebacker died in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing for the 1990 Rose Bowl winning team, whose roster also included future NFL star Junior Seau.

(Source: AP News, October 20, 2022) 

 

Travis Scott Privately Settles First Astroworld Lawsuit With Victim’s Family
Travis Scott has settled his first lawsuit stemming from the November 5, 2021, Astroworld Festival in Houston that saw an alleged 5,000 people injured and ten dead. Since the tragedy, the FBI and Houston Police Department have conducted criminal investigations into the incident, and Scott has become the defendant in numerous lawsuits suing for billions of dollars. Scott settled the first of these lawsuits privately out of court, according to an Instagram press release from trial lawyer Tony Buzbee on October 20. According to the statement, “the claims brought by the family of Axel Acosta against Travis Scott, Live Nation, and others involved in the Astroworld tragedy have settled.” The terms of the settlement are confidential. Acosta was 21 when he died from injuries sustained at the Astroworld incident. The family of Brianna Rodriguez, a 16-year-old who died from the disaster, also settled with Scott, per ABC13. The outdoor performance, which had an attendance of 50,000 concertgoers, led to mass casualties and trampling injuries after thousands of fans rushed to the stage to see Scott perform. Vulture has reached out to Travis Scott’s representatives for comment.

(Source: Vulture, October 20, 2022) 

 

Pinterest Strikes Deals With Warner, Merlin and Bmg To Expand Music Experience on Platform
According to a press release announcing the string of partnerships, “through these new deals, users will now be able to add tracks from Ed Sheeran, Silk Sonic, Anitta, and many more to their Idea Pins”. Launched in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in May 2021, Pinterest’s ‘Idea Pins’ let creators publish short-form video content directly to Pinterest.

(Source: Music Business Worldwide, October 19, 2022) 

 

Slacker Owes SoundExchange $10M in Unpaid Royalties, Judge Rules
Streaming platform Slacker owes SoundExchange nearly $10 million in unpaid performance royalties, according to a recent ruling by a federal judge, issued after settlement talks between the two broke down. SoundExchange, which collects streaming royalties for sound recordings, sued Slacker and parent company LiveOne in June, claiming they had refused to pay millions over a five-year period. As recently as September, court documents indicated the two sides were having “meaningful settlement negotiations.” SoundExchange played an unusual legal trump card: A pre-signed consent judgment, inked by execs at Slacker back in 2020 as part of a previous effort to get the streamer to pay its royalty bill. Under the terms of that earlier deal, if Slacker ever defaulted again, its executives agreed that a judge should enter a judgment against the company for the full sum owed.

(Source: Billboard, October 18, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Couple Indicted for Trying To Extort Georgia Tech
A federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted an Arizona couple for conspiring to extort money from Georgia Tech by falsely accusing Yellow Jackets basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Ronald Bell and co-defendant Jennifer Pendley were indicted on felony charges of conspiracy to transmit a threat interstate, conspiracy to extort property from another and attempted extortion on Aug. 24.

(Source: ESPN, October 18, 2022)

 

Jay-Z Is Reportedly Suing Bacardi Over D’USSÉ Cognac Partnership
Jay-Z has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Bacardi, his partner on the cognac brand D’USSÉ. The rapper and Bacardi have been 50-50 co-owners of D’USSÉ since 2011 and Jay-Z has promoted the cognac over the years, frequently name-dropping it in his tracks. According to documents obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, lawyers for Jay-Z’s company SC Liquor are demanding transparency surrounding D’USSÉ. The lawsuit “says it needs all books and records, the location of all warehouses storing D’Usse barrels, bottles and accessories, as well as all info regarding Bacardi’s physical inventory and its inventory process,” TMZ reported.

(Source: HYPEBEAST, October 18, 2022)

 

Why the Music Industry Is Headed for a Tussle With TikTok Over Royalties
Some people argue that TikTok is growing off the back of music’s popularity on its platform, and that the music biz’s biggest companies must strike ‘revenue-share’ agreements with TikTok sooner rather than later. This would give music rightsholders a guaranteed proportion of all revenue generated on music-led TikTok videos.

(Source: Music Business Worldwide, October 18, 2022)

 

Netflix Adds 2.4M Subscribers in First Gain of the Year
Netflix added 2.4 million subscribers during the third quarter, marking a major turnaround for the streaming giant that has been plagued by declining growth during the past year. The streamer now has just over 223 million subscribers and is projecting to add another 4.5 million subscribers during the fourth quarter. In the U.S. and Canada, Netflix saw a modest gain of 100,000 subscribers, while the Asia Pacific region contributed 1.4 million paying subscribers. Latin America brought in 310,000 subs, and the EMEA region drove 570,000 of Netflix’s quarterly subscriber adds.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, October 18, 2022)

 

NFL Adds Black Friday Game on Amazon
The NFL’s Thanksgiving weekend is getting a little longer. Starting in 2023, the league will add a game on the day after Thanksgiving that will stream on Amazon’s Prime Video, thus drawing millions of viewers into the ecommerce giant’s realm on the biggest shopping day of the year. The deal, rumored for some time, adds another NFL window for the streamer, which took over the Thursday Night Football franchise this year.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, October 18, 2022)

 

Artists Say AI Image Generators Are Copying Their Style To Make Thousands of New Images — And it’s Completely Out of Their Control
People are creating thousands of artworks that look like his using programs called AI-image generators, which use artificial intelligence to create original artwork in minutes or even seconds after a user types in a few words as directions.

(Source: Business Insider, October 17, 2022)

 

Ed Sheeran’s Lawyers Ask Judge To Reconsider Decision To Send Pop Star to Trial in Copyright Case
Ed Sheeran’s lawyers want a federal judge to rethink a recent decision that said the star must face a trial over whether “Thinking Out Loud” infringes Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On,” warning that such rulings threaten to “strangle creation” by future songwriters. Two weeks after Judge Louis Stanton refused to toss the case out, Sheeran’s attorneys respectfully told the judge that he was wrong – and that the only overlap between the two songs were simple musical elements that have “been used in music for centuries.” “Affording copyright protection to a combination of only two unprotectable basic musical building blocks, such as the ones at issue here, would undermine a central purpose of copyright law – which is to encourage the creation of new works – and would instead strangle creation,” wrote Sheeran’s lead counsel Don Zakarin, an attorney at the firm Pryor Cashman.

(Source: Billboard, October 14, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Cardi B Judge Says Youtuber Tasha K Must Pay $4M or Secure Funding During Defamation Appeal
Months after the superstar rapper tweeted BBHMM – “bitch better have my money” – Judge William Ray ruled that a gossip blogger who made salacious claims about Cardi must either immediately pay her an almost $4 million defamation verdict, or secure a bond covering the entire amount. With the blogger Tasha K seeking to pause the huge judgment while she appeals it, Judge Ray said he would only do so if she can post a so-called supersedeas bond covering the entire amount. If Tasha (real name Latasha Kebe) loses her appeal, that money will then be automatically handed to Cardi.

(Source: Billboard, October 13, 2022) [Subscription may be required]

 

Primary Wave Strikes $2 Billion Deal With Financial Giant Brookfield To Acquire Music Copyrights
Brookfield Asset Management has struck a $2 billion deal with Primary Wave Music to invest in music rights.

(Source: Music Business Worldwide, October 6, 2022) 

 

Sens. Alex Padilla and Marsha Blackburn Introduce the American Music Fairness Act in the Senate: Here’s What You Should Know
This new bill will ensure that artists, performers, producers, and music creators are fairly compensated when their songs are played on terrestrial radio stations.

(Source: Recording Academy, September 23, 2022) 

 

NBA, MLB and NHL File Trademark Infringement Suit Over Counterfeit Goods
The National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League have filed a joint suit against a counterfeiting collective that has allegedly sold knockoff jerseys and caps online to Illinois customers. Joining the professional sporting leagues in the lawsuit are the Collegiate Licensing Company LLC, the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. The sports organizations filed suit Oct. 7 in Chicago’s federal court and are seeking all profits from the sale of counterfeit goods and the amount of damages for infringement of their respective trademarks be increased by a sum not exceeding three times the amount thereof as provided by law.

(Source: Cook County Record, October 18, 2013) [Throwback Article]