CLC Asks Judge To Remove Four Of Five Current Athletes Involved With O'Bannon Suit

The Collegiate Licensing Co. on Thursday asked U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken to "remove four of the five active college-athlete plaintiffs" from the Ed O'Bannon antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, according to Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY. The company also requested that the judge "strike all of the plaintiffs' allegations that pertain to products other than video games and game broadcasts." CLC argued that when the plaintiffs recently "amended their complaint and added active athletes to a list of named plaintiffs," they "went well beyond the scope of what Wilken had said she would allow." They "added many pages to their complaint and added six active college athletes as plaintiffs, although one has withdrawn from the case." The company also argued that the plaintiffs "did not follow through on narrowing the case to video games and broadcasts, as they had said they would during a June 20 hearing on their bid to have the case certified as a class action" (USATODAY.com, 8/1). In Birmingham, Jon Solomon reported CLC "asked that Wilken order the plaintiffs to pay CLC's discovery expenses reasonably incurred in defending itself" if Wilken does not remove four of the five active plaintiffs. CLC also wrote that "allegations about the company's 'supposed licensing activities' involving trading cards, jerseys, bobbleheads and other memorabilia should be removed" (AL.com, 8/1).