Sports Law: Labor, Intellectual Property, and Agency Law

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering labor law (NLRA/NLRB, collective bargaining, concerted activities), intellectual property law (trademark distinctiveness, functionality, infringement), and agency law (authority types, fiduciary duties, agent regulation, negotiation concepts).

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

A federal statute enacted by Congress in 1935 that provides the legal structure governing employer-employee relations in the United States.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

An administrative body that oversees and enforces the National Labor Relations Act and determines which issues may be collectively bargained.

Union

An organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.

Right to Control Test

A common law test applying eleven factors to evaluate the degree of control an alleged employer exercises over an individual's working life to determine employee status under the NLRA.

Section 7 Rights

Statutory rights under the NLRA providing employees the right to form, join, and assist labor organizations; bargain collectively through chosen representatives; and engage in concerted activities like strikes and picketing.

Collective Bargaining

A negotiation process through which an employer and employee representatives have a mutual obligation to meet at reasonable times to confer in good faith regarding mandatory bargaining subjects.

Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

A binding contract that documents the outcomes of collective bargaining negotiations, outlining the rights and responsibilities flowing between employers and employees.

Mandatory Terms of Collective Bargaining

The three statutory topics that employers and employee representatives are obligated to negotiate: wages, hours, and conditions of employment.

Strike

A refusal to report for and engage in work for the employer, utilized by employees or player unions as an economic weapon upon CBA expiration or during bargaining impasses.

Lockout

An economic weapon wherein an employer holds employees out of work and refuses to pay them, exercised upon CBA expiration or when a bargaining impasse is reached.

The Lanham Act

The primary federal trademark statute (15 U.S.C. § 1051, et seq.) enacted by Congress in 1946 and amended in 1996.

Trademark

A name, logo, or other symbol that identifies a product or service and distinguishes it from the products of another.

Arbitrary or Fanciful Mark

A mark that bears no logical relationship to the underlying product, categorized as inherently distinctive and granted an immediate high degree of trademark protection.

Suggestive Mark

A mark that evokes or suggests a characteristic of the underlying good, recognized as inherently distinctive and receiving immediate high trademark protection.

Descriptive Mark

A mark that the public primarily associates with a particular producer rather than the underlying product, eligible for trademark protection under secondary meaning theory.

Generic Mark

A mark that describes the general category to which the underlying product belongs, entitled to no trademark protection.

Secondary Meaning

A legal status achieved when a mark receives widespread use and public recognition such that it indicates the source of the good or service rather than the good or service itself.

USPTO Disclaimer

A mandatory statement in a trademark application disclaiming exclusive ownership over specific terms that are descriptive, generic, common industry terms, entity designations, or geographic indicators.

Utilitarian Functionality

A feature limitation preventing trademark protection when a feature is essential to the use or purpose of the product or directly affects its cost or quality.

Aesthetic Functionality

A doctrine barring trademark protection for a design feature or color if its exclusive use would place competitors at a significant non-reputation-related disadvantage.

Trademark Infringement

The unauthorized use of a trademark that creates a likelihood of consumer confusion concerning source, affiliation, endorsement, or sponsorship.

Trademark License

An agreement permitting a third-party licensee to use a trademark owner's mark in connection with designated goods or services.

Principal

The party in an agency relationship for whom action is to be taken.

Agent

The party in an agency relationship who is designated to act on behalf of another.

Fiduciary

One who acts primarily for the benefit of another within a special relationship established on trust and confidence.

Actual Authority

Authority that exists when an agent reasonably believes their actions fall within the scope of authority granted by the principal.

Express Authority

Authority created through an explicit oral or written agreement directly empowering an agent to act.

Implied Authority

An agent's power to perform incidental acts that are reasonably necessary to execute their express responsibilities.

Apparent Authority

Authority created when a third party reasonably believes an agent has authority to act based on the principal's words, actions, or inaction, despite the lack of actual authority.

Duty of Care

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to execute duties with the reasonable care and skill that a reasonable person under the same circumstances would exercise.

Duty of Loyalty and Good Faith

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to act solely in the best interests of the principal at all times, barring self-dealing, fraud, or secret profits.

Duty of Obedience

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to execute the principal's instructions, even if unwise, provided they are not illegal, immoral, unethical, or against public policy.

Duty of Disclosure

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to notify the principal of all relevant matters that could affect the principal's interests.

Duty of Confidentiality

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to keep conversations and private information private unless explicitly authorized to disclose them.

Duty to Account

A fiduciary duty requiring an agent to account to the principal for all funds belonging to the principal that come into the agent's possession.

Uniform Athletes Agents Act (UAAA)

A model state law adopted by 39 states as of 2026 to protect student-athletes through mandatory agent registration, background checks, disclosure notices, and bans on inducements.

Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA)

A federal law regulated by the Federal Trade Commission imposing affirmative duties of truthfulness, disclosure, and prohibitions against offering inducements to student-athletes.

ZOPA

Zone of Possible Agreement; the negotiation overlap established between parties' target points and walk-away points where a mutually acceptable deal can occur.

NOPA

No Possible Agreement; the condition reached when parties' bargaining limits and walk-away points fail to overlap, preventing a settlement.