WPT settles lawsuit with several top pros
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The World Poker Tour announced today that they were settling a lawsuit with five of the top poker professionals in the world.
The suit — which was brought by pros Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon and Howard Lederer — focused on the player release form the WPT requires of players participating in its tournaments. There was no money involved in the suit.
According to pokernews.com:
In their original lawsuit, the players claimed that the terms of the WPTE player release would force them to violate other endorsement agreements and rights to images that the players and their sponsors had otherwise contracted for, and as a result, the players were forced to forego participating in WPT events. The action was framed in antitrust terms, alleging that WPTE and its partner casinos unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition and violated the intellectual property rights of these players. WPTE strictly denied that its standard player release was in any way “in violation of antitrust or other laws.” The modified player release, while not detailed by WPTE, likely addresses related concerns.
The settlement will likely mean of of the players listed above will be playing in WPT events again.
Former World Series of Poker main event champions Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem were originally party to the suit, as well, but had their names withdrawn.
