ESPN, CBS, others caught in NCAA-players lawsuit web, USA Today article
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ESPN, CBS, others caught in NCAA-players lawsuit web
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
Attorneys for a group of former college players suing the NCAA over the continued use of their likenesses in commercials, video games and other mediums are taking their fight to ESPN, CBS and other major networks.
A cease-and-desist letter sent Monday says each of the networks "appears to have no right" to feature the names, images and likeness of former major-college football and basketball players without their permission.
In essence, it's a threat. Asked what legal compulsion there might be for, say, ESPN Classic to pull programming, Washington, D.C.-based attorney Michael Hausfeld said, "None yet. But what it does is put all of those licensees on notice that they paid (the NCAA) for something they didn't have and they could become involved in litigation. … You've got to get a license from the people and entities that own the rights."
Hausfeld's letter cites the NCAA's acknowledgement during a recent court hearing tied to the likenesses lawsuit that "there are no licenses from the NCAA to anybody that purport to, on their face or implicitly, constitute a license of any student athlete rights. … They are at all times owned by the student athlete."
The letter asks that all any licensing fees paid to the NCAA or its licensing partner, the Collegiate Licensing Company, be placed in escrow, and that contracts be rewritten to clarify what rights are held by the NCAA. It also calls for separate licensing contracts with invidual former players.
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said the network had not received the letter late Monday and "we wouldn't comment until we have a chance to review it."
Hausfeld is the principal counsel for ex-UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, one of 15 plaintiffs in an array of antitrust lawsuits filed and moving jointly through federal court in California. They claim the former players should be sharing in revenue generated by game footage, video games and other properties that make use of their likenesses.
A federal judge rejected the NCAA's second attempt to dismiss the suit in May, and has set a trial date next March.
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
Attorneys for a group of former college players suing the NCAA over the continued use of their likenesses in commercials, video games and other mediums are taking their fight to ESPN, CBS and other major networks.
A cease-and-desist letter sent Monday says each of the networks "appears to have no right" to feature the names, images and likeness of former major-college football and basketball players without their permission.
In essence, it's a threat. Asked what legal compulsion there might be for, say, ESPN Classic to pull programming, Washington, D.C.-based attorney Michael Hausfeld said, "None yet. But what it does is put all of those licensees on notice that they paid (the NCAA) for something they didn't have and they could become involved in litigation. … You've got to get a license from the people and entities that own the rights."
Hausfeld's letter cites the NCAA's acknowledgement during a recent court hearing tied to the likenesses lawsuit that "there are no licenses from the NCAA to anybody that purport to, on their face or implicitly, constitute a license of any student athlete rights. … They are at all times owned by the student athlete."
The letter asks that all any licensing fees paid to the NCAA or its licensing partner, the Collegiate Licensing Company, be placed in escrow, and that contracts be rewritten to clarify what rights are held by the NCAA. It also calls for separate licensing contracts with invidual former players.
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said the network had not received the letter late Monday and "we wouldn't comment until we have a chance to review it."
Hausfeld is the principal counsel for ex-UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, one of 15 plaintiffs in an array of antitrust lawsuits filed and moving jointly through federal court in California. They claim the former players should be sharing in revenue generated by game footage, video games and other properties that make use of their likenesses.
A federal judge rejected the NCAA's second attempt to dismiss the suit in May, and has set a trial date next March.
Comments
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They might be ? ....They signed their rights away "forever in this eternity" actual wording in a Letter of Intent or scholarship papers.
