Supreme Court Applies "Functional Analysis" to Determine Joint Venture Is Not a "Single Entity" Immune from Antitrust Liability

Article by James R. McGibbon, Carla Wong McMillian, Jeffrey P. Bialos and Steuart H. Thomsen

Originally published May 28, 2010

In American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, 560 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court unanimously held that teams in the National Football League and a corporate entity that they formed to manage their intellectual property should be considered separate entities capable of conspiring with one another for purposes of antitrust liability under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The American Needle decision has direct implications for sports leagues and other joint ventures, and the "functional analysis" the Court adopted for this purpose may also have implications in other contexts in which the "single entity" defense may be asserted.