A year old row over World Poker Tour release forms between pro players and Steve Lipscombe’s company surfaced in a Los Angeles federal district court this week when some of the top player names in the industry filed a lawsuit alleging that WPT unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition, and violated the intellectual property rights of players.
The seven plaintiffs in the suit are Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, current WSOP Champ Joe Hachem, 2004 Champ Greg Raymer, Phil Gordon, and Annie Duke.
The seven players held a press conference at the Rio in Las Vegas to announce the filing of the lawsuit, and show a united front toward the goal of ‘leveling the playing field for all players’ when it comes to players rights at World Poker Tour events.
“This is the anti-trust equivalent of identity theft” noted Jeffrey Kessler, lead attorney on the case.
At the centre of the litigation is a WPT rule which the players claim is stopping them from playing in major WPT competitions. In order to play in WPT games, players are required to sign a release which they claim is unacceptable because it violates other endorsement agreements they may have in place, and the language violates their personal rights to their image, and likeness – something the players feel they should have control over.
“I don’t want the WPT making my decisions for me. I want to make those decisions on my own” said top player Howard Lederer.
The fight has been simmering for a year with quality players like Bloch, and Raymer (an Intellectual Property rights attorney by discipline and profession) spurning WPT events due to the language in WPT agreement, which is viewed by many as both unjust and illegal.
The players’ suit seeks injunctive relief to change the language of the WPT release so that the players’ rights are not violated.
On the cold hard cash side, the lawsuit seeks treble, and as yet unnamed punitive damages for past uses of the players’ likenesses in WPT products, promotional materials, and in publications like the WPT’s online gaming site.
“We felt this was our last resort to get fair treatment” Annie Duke told reporters at the Rio press conference “We tried to work this out without legal action, but ultimately, it came to this”
WPT officials declined to comment until they had had a chance to fully study the complaint.