McAfee & Taft trial lawyer Dan Loeffler was featured in The Oklahoman discussing the outcome of an antitrust case involving the National Football League and the impact it could have on other professional sports leagues and businesses in unrelated industries.
In 2001, through a separate entity formed by the NFL teams, exclusive license for NFL team trademarks was granted to Reebok. A previous licensee of those trademarks, American Needle, filed suit challenging the exclusive license and alleging it was an anticompetitive conspiracy.
On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the NFL, unanimously disagreeing with the “single entity” defense in which the NFL argued the teams couldn’t have improperly conspired because they were really acting as a single entity. According to Loeffler, “the court found the teams were separate economic actors that compete for revenue off the field just as they compete for wins on it.”
When discussing the broader effects of this decision on other sports leagues, Loeffler told The Oklahoman, "This decision is narrow, but it will probably encourage antitrust challenges to at least some sports’ leagues collective commercial efforts." He went on to say it is a lesson for companies of all types that seek to form separate corporations or joint ventures with competing entities.
You can read the entire article here.