K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - January 2026

Sports:

NCAA

• The NCAA and major sports leagues are girding for new legal fights over athlete pay, college eligibility, and rules of competition—a jumble of cases whose outcome could reshape the business of sports. NCAA, Sports Leagues Brace for More Antitrust Action in Court – Bloomberg
• Objectors to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s approval of the settlement between the NCAA, its power conferences and current and former Division I athletes represented by the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust litigations have raised unpersuasive and unsupported arguments, the NCAA and power conferences insist in a brief filed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week. NCAA defends House settlement from Title IX, opt-out appeal – Sportico

NFL

• New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs is facing a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of assault from an alleged incident on Dec. 2. Patriots’ Stefon Diggs faces strangulation, assault charges – ESPN

Entertainment:

FILM & TELEVISION

• The 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick didn’t infringe the copyright for the magazine article that inspired the original 1986 film, the 9^th Circuit affirmed. Top Gun: Maverick Copyright Suit Rejected By Appeals Court

LAWSUITS OF THE RICH & FAMOUS

• A 9^th Circuit panel upheld celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D’s copyright win in a photographer’s suit brought over her use of his Miles Davis photograph, though two of the judges called on the circuit court to toss out its own test underpinning that result. Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg – Ninth Circuit Published Opinion – Copyright Lately