Elon Law's Sports and Entertainment Law Society hosted a presentation by Ron Katz on April 14. Katz is a partner of the firm Mannatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, in Palo Alto, California. He is the chair of his firm's Sports Law division.
Katz’s speech, entitled, “Adderley vs. National Football League Players Association (NFLPA): A Case Study in the Use of Athletes’ Images,” explored legal arguments and key elements of a federal case in which he won a verdict against the NFLPA.
In 2008, a U.S. federal jury ordered the NFLPA to pay $28.1 million in punitive damages to retired players after finding the union failed to properly market their images. Furthermore, the jury concluded that the NFLPA owed the retirees $7.1 million in compensatory damages for failing to include them in marketing deals with EA Sports’ Madden video game series.
Katz specializes in complex commercial dispute resolution with an emphasis on intellectual property, antitrust and technology matters. During his career, he has been involved in high profile and novel cases for major clients both internationally and in northern California. Most recently, in 2011 he argued a trademark appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of football great Jim Brown.
Prior to his presentation at the Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS) forum, Katz and his wife, Elizabeth Roth, an attorney with GCA Law Partners LLP specializing in employment law, spoke with law faculty, staff, and students on the subject of “Balancing Cases, Careers and Life Together.” That discussion was cosponsored by Leadership Fellows and the Center for Engaged Learning in the Law.
Katz also engaged in a question and answer format discussion with students in an International Intellectual Property course later in the evening.
SELS seeks to provide students with an interest in the area of sports and entertainment law meaningful insight into this area of the profession, as well as provide networking opportunities with people who have experience in this field, whether from an attorney or client perspective.
By Danielle Appelman, L’12