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Brands & Merch Business News
NFL fines player $10,000 for wearing Beats headphones at press conference
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 13 October 2014
The first casualty of the NFL’s ban on Beats headphones has fallen, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick receiving a $10,000 fine last week after wearing a bright pink pair to a post-game press conference.
As previously reported, the American football overseer recently placed a ban on NFL associated players and team staff wearing Beats headphones at official events, as the league has a sponsorship deal with rival Bose.
Commenting on the fine on Instagram, Kaepernick said that he had been wearing the pink headphones to promote breast cancer awareness (he also had a breast cancer awareness ribbon cut into his hair).
In a statement, the NFL said: “The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorised by the league. These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today. They are the NFL’s policies – not one of the league’s sponsors, Bose in this case. Bose is not involved in the enforcement of our policies. This is true for others on-field”.
Elsewhere in Bose v Beats rivalry, the two companies have agreed to dismiss a patent lawsuit brought by the former against the later. Bose alleged that Beats had infringed some of its patents relating to noise-cancelling headphones.
Though it’s not just because everyone’s realised that US patent lawsuits are out of control and pretty ridiculous. Rather, they’ve simply put the case on hold while it’s investigated by the International Trade Commission.
