The National Football League has won a licensing suit against America Needle for a past deal to make Reebok International, Ltd. its exclusive headwear licensee. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling that the NFL is a “single entity” whose business choices are nearly impossible to challenge under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which bars agreements in restraint of trade.
CRA International, Inc. a worldwide leader in providing economic, financial, and management consulting services, said that CRA academic consultant Franklin M. Fisher, supported by CRA staff, assisted the NFL, its member clubs, and NFL Properties with economic analysis of the 2005 antitrust lawsuit filed against the NFL and Reebok.
American Needle filed its initial suit against the NFL in 2005, claiming the NFL had violated antitrust laws when it agreed to provide Reebok with an exclusive headwear license to collectively market the NFLs intellectual property. American Needle argued that NFL teams function as competitors rather than partners and thus the leagues decision to provide an exclusive headwear license was unlawful.
After the court found the league was a single entity, it concluded that American Needle had no claim “because, as a single entity, the NFL and its member teams could collectively license their intellectual property to one or many without running afoul of the antitrust laws.”
