Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight! We are just days away from the NFL championship game (I was scared away from using the more popularly used, and heavily policed name for the game [see: https://www.foster.com/newsroom-alerts-planning-a-super-bowl-marketing-campaign-5-quick-tips-for-staying-in-bounds-and-avoiding-disqualification]), and to be candid, I do not have a dog in the race. On the one hand, there are the Philadelphia Eagles, whose victory would catch my ire as a New York Giants fan and would (for reasons still unclear to many New Yorkers) likely turn the Empire State Building green and white, once more. On the other hand, there are the Kansas City Chiefs, whose victory would be their second in the past four years and would almost certainly guarantee more insufferable TikTok dancing from QB Patrick Mahomes II’s brother, Jackson.  Instead, I will most definitely be interested in the halftime show and the commercials (most notably the several that I have had the privilege of working on over the past few months #humblebrag).  And to the extent that I am still longing for dogs in the race, well I have the Puppy Bowl earlier in the day on Sunday to lift my spirits and carry me through to next season when I hope my team will be in the championship spotlight.   

• • Madison Square Garden Sports is rumored to be exploring a sale of a minority interest in the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. I would make a joke, but I would like to continue being one of the lawyers that is not denied entry to Madison Square Garden.  
  • Artist Mason Rothschild found himself on the losing end of a trademark infringement trial where Parisian fashion house Hermes filed suit asserted claims against Rothschild for his Metabirkins NFT project that put a metaverse spin on Hermes’ famous Birkin bags. Not the first and certainly will not be the last time someone loses money on NFTs.
  • Louisiana State University Women’s Basketball star Angel Reese files a trademark for her nickname “Bayou Barbie” and is likely to face opposition from Barbie® doll company Mattel (if not an NIL deal). After all, in trademark law, asserting rights in names likely to cause confusion is not something you Ken do.
  • As part of cost-cutting and restructuring measures for the media conglomerate, Disney does not intend to spin-off its ESPN properties, but it has announced layoffs of (Snow White and the) seven thousand workers.