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What has been billed as the first major trade in the history of Mixed Martial Arts (“MMA”) was announced late last month with former Ultimate Fighting Championship (“UFC”) Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson moving to ONE Championship (“ONE”) and former ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren moving to the UFC.

Bayern Munich, one of the most internationally recognised football clubs in Europe, was recently involved in trade mark opposition proceedings brought to enforce its famous chequered logo and prevent the registration of a trade mark applied for by Sailerbräu, a Bavarian brewery, whose own logo also included the English equivalent of the word ‘Bayern’ (Bavaria) and the same motif.

Another interesting and unforeseen consequence of Brexit is the power struggle that has been triggered between the Premier League and the FA in relation to post Brexit quotas for “home grown” players and the visa requirements for overseas players.

As we enter the eleventh week of the NFL season, former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has remained a free agent since March 2017, continues to play an active role off the field. Prior to the start of the season, arbitrator Stephen A. Burbank denied the NFL’s request to dismiss Kaepernick’s labor grievance against the League, allowing his case to proceed to a full hearing.

With predictions that by 2019 427 million people will be watching eSports and eSports revenues will exceed US$1 billion, it is no surprise that professional eSports outfits are emerging around the world. China and North America appear to be leading the charge but eSports markets are exploding globally.

On Saturday, 24 June 2017, the South Africa Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) descended upon the South African Mixed Pairs Lawn Bowls National Championship to conduct random testing as part of its core focus of tackling doping in South African sports.

On August 29, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Mychal Kendricks, a linebacker for the Cleveland Browns, who at the time of the alleged activity played for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Damilare Sonoiki, a former investment banking analyst at a large investment bank, alleging multiple instances of insider trading from July 2014 through November 2014.

Video games, such as Grand Theft Auto® and Electronic Arts’ “FIFA” soccer video game franchise, remain popular around the globe, and two recent matters made headlines on two different aspects of these video games: copyright and cryptocurrency.