Rangers v. NHL
Although we are a bit behind on this, the always excellent Sports Law Blog already has a pair of posts regarding the New York Rangers’ lawsuit against the NHL. As the Sports Law Blog states:
The purported anticompetitive conduct cited by Madison Square Garden includes allegations that the NHL teams imposed a series of rules limiting individual team control over their websites, marks, licensing rights, merchandising rights, dashboard sales, and broadcast rights. The complaint further alleges that, “by seeking to control the competitive activities of independent business in ways that are not necessary to the functioning of the [NHL] joint venture, the NHL has become an illegal cartel,” and that such “broad collective control over the competitive activities of the independent [hockey] business is inconsistent with federal and New York state antitrust laws.”
Based on my reading of this complaint, it seems the lawsuit (although addressing various issues) emerges primarily based on MSG’s dislike for a new NHL policy that requires all thirty pro hockey teams to turn over control of their websites to the NHL, and which intends to impose a $100,000 per-day fine on any noncomplying teams. According to the complaint, the Rangers had already invested substantial effort into developing their independent website, http://www.nyrangers.com/, which MSG believes provides the Rangers with a competitive advantage in its ability to sell Rangers merchandise and to broadcast Rangers games throughout cyberspace. Without control over its website and marks, MSG believes that the Rangers will lose some of this competitive advantage.
The second post focuses on the NHL’s likely single-entity defense.
Check it out.
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October 9th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
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October 9th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBased on my reading of this complaint, it seems the lawsuit (although addressing various issues) emerges primarily based on MSG’s dislike for a new NHL policy that requires all thirty pro hockey teams to turn over control of their … […]
October 10th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
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October 10th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt… on my reading of this complaint, it seems the lawsuit (although addressing various issues) emerges primarily based on MSG’s dislike for a new NHL policy that requires all thirty pro hockey teams to turn over control of their … […] […]
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