O'Bannon's case against NCAA will go forward

A federal judge has green-lighted most of a lawsuit by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon, who alleges that the NCAA used images of student athletes without their permission.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken denied the NCAA’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed Monday. The NCAA had argued O’Bannon and others gave up their commercials rights when they annually signed a form permitting the organization to use their images to promote NCAA activities.

But the judge says O’Bannon’s allegations that the NCAA is improperly profiting by using the images to sell DVDs, video games and apparel deserve further hearing.

Wilken has combined his case with that of former Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller, who filed a similar suit against the NCAA and video game maker Electronic Arts Inc.

Elsewhere

An appeals court said it appears that the University of California, Davis violated federal law meant to promote gender equity in college athletics when it eliminated its women’s wrestling program and made females compete against males of the same weight after the 2000-2001 academic year.