K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup (March 4, 2025)

Sports:

• The Trump administration’s challenge of Maine’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports will provide an unusual test of a federal anti-discrimination law and could take years to resolve. Trump challenge to Maine’s transgender policy hinges on new read of anti-discrimination law – Portland Press Harold

NCAA

• A California federal magistrate judge said Friday she is unlikely to certify a class of potentially hundreds of ex-University of San Francisco baseball players in a case alleging that former coaches created a sexually abusive environment but agreed to hold her decision to review additional information on the claims. Ex-USF Ballplayers In Uphill Battle For Sex Harassment Cert. – Law360
• Stressing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston (2021) was “more scalpel than ax,” a federal judge on Friday denied University of Georgia graduate student Dylan Goldstein’s motion for a preliminary injunction to play baseball beyond his four years of NCAA eligibility. NCAA Wins Again as Court Finds Georgia Outfielder Ineligible – Sportico
• A Seventh Circuit panel says it lacks the jurisdiction to consider if a lower court rightly denied dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an ex-Illinois State University football coach who claims he was unlawfully fired for posting an “All Lives Matter” sign on his office door, because the district judge postponed a decision on the school officials’ qualified immunity argument. 7th Circ. Says It’s Too Early To Mull Fired ISU Coach’s Suit – Law360

MLB

• The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to return $200,000 the team received to promote a company that engaged in an alleged Ponzi scheme. Tampa Bay Rays Return $200K They Were Paid by Alleged Ponzi Scheme – Front Office Sports

GOLF

• President Donald Trump has received a letter with seven solutions to mend the divide between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The PGA, LIV, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV, reached a framework agreement for a merger in June 2023, although tangible progress has been few and far between. LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger letter now with Donald Trump as seven solutions lined up – The Mirror

Entertainment:

FILM & TELEVISION

• Warner Bros. Television can’t nix a contract breach lawsuit filed by the estate of ER creator Michael Crichton alleging the media company’s medical drama, The Pitt, is an unauthorized reboot of ER, after a CA judge ruled the plaintiffs’ evidence shows, on its face, WB’s show is derived from ER. ER Lawsuit: Court Rejects Bid to Dismiss Michael Crichton The Pitt Suit
• Counsel for an animation artist told jurors on the first day of a CA federal court trial that The Walt Disney Co. stole his magnum opus to develop the movie Moana without a penny of compensation. Disney goes on trial over ‘Moana’ copyright infringement claims | Courthouse News Service
• Netflix and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. can continue with the release of its new show Running Point after a district court denied Pepperdine University’s bid to halt it. Netflix Blocks Pepperdine’s ‘Running Point’ Trademark Lawsuit
• CA actors and other entertainment workers want to build on a first-in-the-nation AI transparency law to gain more information about whether the models use their copyrighted work, such as their voice recordings or drawings. Council Receives Preview of New Model Policy That Provides Guidelines, Safeguards on Use of Generative AI by Courts | Judicial Branch of California
• The Sesame Street gang is going after online merchants they say are selling counterfeit products depicting the iconic children’s program, telling an IL federal court that the unauthorized merchandise is deceiving fans and hurting the nonprofit’s reputation and wallet. C Is For Counterfeit: Sesame Street Says Sellers Stealing IP – Law360
• A SDNY judge has decided that the canceled HBO reality TV show FBoy Island is not “substantially similar” to a reality show pitch that was shopped around by a producer who followed up his pitch with a copyright lawsuit. HBO Escapes ‘FBoy Island’ Copyright Case – Law360
• A filmmaker has asked for a new copyright infringement trial against writer-director Night Shyamalan and his co-defendants after a jury found that they did not have access to the film she claimed they infringed, arguing that the court failed to answer a crucial question from the jury before the verdict was delivered. Filmmaker Seeks New IP Trial Against Shyamalan, Others – Law360
• Showtime, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and the makers of the TV show Yellowjackets use “self-serving descriptions” and “omit similarities” between the show and the 2015 film Eden in their bid to toss a suit alleging the hit series ripped off the movie, the filmmakers told a CA federal judge. ‘Yellowjackets’ Makers Omit Overlaps With Film, Court Told – Law360

LAWSUITS OF THE RICH & FAMOUS

• A CA state judge said that he’s inclined to toss Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter‘s extortion claims against personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee and some, but not all, of the rapper’s defamation allegations stemming from a now-abandoned rape lawsuit. Jay-Z’s Defamation Case Against Lawyer Tony Buzbee Advances to Trial

MUSIC & BOOKS

• Ultra International Music Publishing will have to stop using the “Ultra” trademark after a judge cemented a jury verdict against the music publisher in a lawsuit brough by Sony Music Entertainment subsidiary Ultra Records LLC. Sony Music wins trademark battle over use of ‘Ultra’ name by Patrick Moxey’s independent publishing company – Music Business Worldwide
• A London judge ruled that claims by British music royalties outfit Hipgnosis over unpaid royalties against singer Barry Manilow must be dealt with by a court in Los Angeles before proceedings in the U.K. can move forward. Hipgnosis’ UK lawsuit against Barry Manilow over $1.5 mln cannot proceed, court rules | Reuters
• A FL federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit by six publishing houses; two parents of schoolchildren; and five bestselling authors, including Jodi Picoult and Laurie Halse Anderson, challenging a state law that restricts books in school libraries. Officials Can’t Escape Authors’ Suit Over Book Bans – Law360