Lawyers for runner Nick Symmonds’ caffeinated gum company filed a motion Friday in Oregon federal court hoping to keep their antitrust suit against the USOC and USATF alive. In a 36-page filing, Run Gum fought back against the bodies’ request for a dismissal, arguing the '78 Amateur Sports Act does not give the USOC commercial carte blanche. In any case, the plaintiffs say they should be allowed to present evidence of an anti-competitive conspiracy. Run Gum is challenging the ban on on-uniform advertisements at the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials, aside from the standard marks of apparel companies. The USOC asked for a dismissal last month, saying Congress gave it implied immunity from antitrust actions to run its business, which is based heavily on exclusive marketing contracts. Run Gum’s lawyers say that authority is limited. "Notably, Run Gum brings this suit only to challenge as illegal those agreements that restrict the type of individual sponsors that track & field athletes can display,” they wrote. "Run Gum does not contest generally applicable rules and regulations governing the size, number and placement of individual-sponsor identifications.”
DECLARATION OF INDEPEDENCE? An interesting question posed by this suit is how much of an independent actor the USATF is. If the USATF is merely enforcing the non-negotiable rules demanded of them by the USOC, then there cannot, by definition, be a conspiracy to manipulate the advertising market. A precedent in part comes from the Right Field Rooftops v. Chicago Baseball Holdings case in ’15 that ruled the Cubs cannot monopolize their own product. But Run Gum wants to prove that the USATF has played an active role in creating rules that exceed the typical Olympic sport marketing restrictions. If the case proceeds, that line of inquiry could shed new light on the nature of the USOC’s relationship with its quasi-independent sport governing bodies. Run Gum also wants to be allowed to produce evidence that Trials are a uniquely valuable marketing opportunity, and that no other equivalent options are available to it. Run Gum is represented by Sathya Gosselin at Hausfeld LLP, the same firm that won the O’Bannon v. NCAA case, and Portland-based litigator Timothy Landis. The USOC is represented by Covington & Burling Partner Derek Ludwin, Covington associate Alexander Ramey and Bruce Campbell, a local Portland attorney. The USOC and USATF did not reply to a request for comment, but neither party typically comments on pending litigation. The USOC has until next Friday to respond.
