In a legal clash between MLB Players Inc. (MLBPI) and sports betting companies, DraftKings and bet365, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss....more
This edition of the Public Company Watch highlights critical updates and regulatory changes affecting public companies. Staying informed on these topics is crucial for effective compliance and strategic planning. Highlights...more
2024 has been the year of noncompete litigation. Since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its Final Rule in April 2024, seeking to ban noncompetes with limited exceptions, employers have been (rightfully) focused on...more
In what might be the first published case discussing California’s newest anti-non-compete laws, Cal. Bus & Prof. Code § 16600.5(a) & (b), DraftKings successfully obtained a preliminary injunction and defeated the appeal of...more
In the first known case to challenge California's legislative attempt to void noncompete agreements even for employees who do not live or work in California, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the application of...more
It is no secret that California is hostile to noncompetition (noncompete) agreements. As of Jan. 1, 2024, California employers cannot enforce nor enter into noncompete provisions or agreements with an employee or prospective...more
The ongoing battle between DraftKings Inc. and its former executive, Michael Hermalyn, remains contentious, with the District of Massachusetts’ decision to enforce Hermalyn’s non-compete now appealed and argued to the First...more
Recently, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued an opinion in Beteiro, LLC v. DraftKings Inc.[1] This case is yet another case where the Federal Circuit upheld invalidity under § 101. Here, the patents...more
Beteiro, LLC v. DraftKings Inc., No. 2022-2275, 2024 WL 3077636 (Fed. Cir. June 21, 2024) - On June 21, 2024, the Federal Circuit affirmed the District Court for the District of New Jersey’s dismissal of Beteiro, LLC’s...more
All bets are off in a Boston-based dispute between DraftKings Inc. and one of its former vice presidents. On April 30, 2024, the District of Massachusetts granted DraftKings a twelve-month preliminary injunction preventing...more
A crackdown on online "pick'em"-style contests in Florida could be a sign of what's to come as state regulators struggle to keep up with the rapidly changing world of daily fantasy sports and legalized sports wagering....more
On the heels of recent legal setbacks and challenges for NFT collections offered by Dapper Labs and DraftKings, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) filed suit in New York state court against the parent companies of...more
On March 9, 2023, a putative class action was filed against DraftKings Inc. for alleged violations of federal securities laws in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The class, if certified, will include...more
You read that right. The exact quote from the Second Circuit’s March 21, 2022 decision in Olsen v. Major League Baseball, Docket No. 20-1831, reads as follows:...more
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found in a recent inter partes review—DraftKings Inc. v. Interactive Games LLC—that DraftKings’ proposed combination of prior art would have been obvious when Interactive Games’ mobile...more
On May 25, 2021, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted legislation authorizing retail and online sports betting, online casino gaming and online daily fantasy sports (DFS), to be offered exclusively by the Connecticut...more
The MLB, Houston Astros, and Boston Red Sox have secured the dismissal of a fantasy baseball lawsuit over the electronic sign-stealing scandal....more
The New York Appellate Division dealt a shocking blow to the fantasy sports industry by ruling earlier this month that daily fantasy sports contests are a form of gambling and that the law passed by New York in 2016...more
A fantasy baseball participant filed a putative class action against the MLB and one of its affiliates, the Houston Astros, and the Boston Red Sox over the recent electronic sign-stealing scandal that is rocking the sport....more
It is a legal maxim that arbitration is a creature of contract. A recent District of Massachusetts decision explores critical questions about when that creature can exist outside of the confines of a binding agreement to...more
Recently, the Seventh Circuit affirmed that fantasy sports operators, such as FanDuel and Draft Kings, do not violate a student athlete’s right of publicity under Indiana law by using their name, image and likeness without...more
Plaintiff-Appellants Akeem Daniels, Cameron Stingily, and Nicholas Stoner were collegiate student–athletes between 2014¬2016. Their on-field performances were collected as numerical statistics and published by various...more
Interactive fantasy sports (“IFS”) is a growing industry. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, Americans spend over $7 billion annually on IFS. And IFS’s appeal isn’t restricted to players—states like IFS for...more
On October 24, 2018, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that online fantasy sports operators, DraftKings, Inc. and FanDuel, Inc., were permitted to use former collegiate athletes’ names, pictures, and statistics without their...more
On July 13, 2017, daily fantasy sports providers DraftKings and FanDuel announced their decision to call off their proposed merger. Last month, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary...more