American Needle - Dave Pear's Blog

Lawyers In and Lawyers Out

9 March 2010

NFLPA Lawyers Door

It seems that the NFLPA was under the rule of lawyers for decades when departed Executive Director Gene Upshaw ran the place. We’ve covered many of the lawyers inside over the past couple of years. And current Executive Director DeMaurice Smith recently alluded to the conflict of interest posed by the Groom Law Group with regard to the players’ pension plans; they wrote the plan and they represented BOTH the NFLPA AND the NFL when it came to defending the plan. (Click HERE to see the Super Bowl announcement.)

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| Posted by RobertinSeattle | Categories: News | Tagged: American Needle, Dave Pear, Do No Evil, Gene Upshaw, Groom Law Group, Jeffrey Kessler, John Hogan, NFL, NFLPA, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, Richard Berthelsen, RobertinSeattle, Tom Condon |

An Old Lawsuit the NFL would Rather Forget

29 January 2010

NOTE: See if your name is on the list at the end of this post!

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| Posted by RobertinSeattle | Categories: News | Tagged: American Needle, American Needle vs. NFL, Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Players Retirement Plan, Brett Favre, CBA, collective bargaining agreement, Dave Pear, Dee Becker, Do No Evil, football, Gene Upshaw, NFL, NFLPA, Reggie White, Reggie White et al vs. NFL et al, RobertinSeattle, Tom Condon |

C-Span: American Needle vs. NFL News Conference

14 January 2010

Oral arguments have just closed in the American Needle vs. NFL case. Lawyers from both sides spoke to reporters and answered questions about their presentation and the case in a news conference on the courthouse steps outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC.
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And we just uploaded the transcript of the oral arguments to DocStoc for those of you who want to read the details as presented by the two sides. (Click on the FULL SCREEN button to enlarge it for easier navigation – hit the ESC key to close. You can also click the DOWNLOAD button to save a PDF copy for printing and reading. There’s also a Menu button in the upper left corner with even more options.)
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Transcript of American Needle vs. NFL Supreme Court Hearing –
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| Posted by RobertinSeattle | Categories: News | Tagged: American Needle, American Needle vs. NFL, Dave Pear, Do No Evil, Greg Levy, Jeffrey Kessler, NFL, NFLPA, RobertinSeattle |

Getting a Headache about NFL Antitrust?

13 January 2010

The Supreme Court is hearing a major business case this week that debates the extent of its so-called “limited” antitrust exemption. The case is American Needle vs. NFL and if you’re like most of us, it’s hard to understand the details and importance of what ruling might come out of this case. A small clothing manufacturer – American Needle – was kicked to the curb when they lost their license to manufacture caps and jackets with NFL team logos. Reebok – a subsidiary of global athletic wear manufacturer Adidas – currently has the world rights to manufacture any and all licensed NFL wear and oversees a $3.2 billion+ market (2007) from selling NFL gear exclusively.