National Collegiate Athletic Association Litigation

Heins Mills & Olson has joined several other law firms in filing a federal class action lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the “NCAA”) on behalf of former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and a class of thousands of former NCAA Division I men’s basketball and football players.

The Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the NCAA has illegally deprived former student-athletes from receiving any compensation for the use of their images and likenesses in numerous revenue-generating formats, including DVD sales and rentals, photograph sales, video games, “stock footage” clips sold to corporate advertisers, jersey and other apparel sales, and rebroadcasts of “classic” games.

The Complaint seeks injunctive relief that will enjoin the NCAA from its alleged anticompetitive practices and protect students in the future. Plaintiffs also seek damages for all those former Division I men’s basketball and football players whose images have been licensed or sold by Defendants, their co-conspirators, and/or their licensees in the last four years.

Heins Mills & Olson has joined Hausfeld LLP, Boies Schiller & Flexner, LLP, Zelle, Hofmann Voelbel & Mason, LLP and many other antitrust law firms on the complaint.