ATP, German Tournaments Head To Appeals Court Over Legal Fees

The ATP World Tour and its Hamburg tournament are scheduled this morning for oral arguments in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over whether the event should have to pay the ATP more than $20M in legal fees. The ATP won a long-running antitrust case brought initially by the German event in '07, which sued because the ATP lowered its status as part of a calendar change. Shortly before the lawsuit was filed, the ATP changed its bylaws to require any member that unsuccessfully sued the group to pay legal fees. The Hamburg event, which is partially owned by the Qatari Tennis Federation, is challenging the legality of that bylaw.

The arguments are set to begin at 9:30am ET and last a half hour. A decision would likely come in the first half of next year.