Poker Players File for Summary Judgment
As you will recall, last July seven professional poker players filed an antitrust law suit against the World Poker Tour (WPT). (Find the answer here.) Now the players have filed a motion for summary judgment, thereby raising the WPT, or calling, or checking, or something… Poker seems a bit too complicated for us. But that is all right, the feeling is mutual. Antitrust law seems complex to the Pokernews:
Because this is an antitrust case, and US antitrust law is notoriously complex, one might conclude that this suit is an unlikely candidate for summary judgment, but the players’ lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler disagrees. “This case is very different from the typical antitrust case in which the rule of reason applies and a summary determination is often not possible. We believe we have a very strong summary judgment motion because the type of agreements imposed by the WPT are so patently anticompetitive that they are considered to be either per se or “quick look” violations of the antitrust laws – which are suitable for a summary determination on motion by plaintiffs.”
The memorandum in support can be found here. It argues that “there can be no dispute” that the WPT’s requirement that the players sign standard releases is a Section 1 cartel and group boycott, fixing the price at zero dollars for the right to use the players’ “images, voices, and other intellectual property rights.”
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