LIV Golf lawsuit, explained: Why tech company is suing golf league in latest legal issue originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
LIV Golf has had a tumultuous year after losing its funding, and now it’s facing some serious legal issues.
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The golf league is facing a lawsuit regarding unpaid invoices and a breach of contract with a broadcast partner dating back to early May. The issues between the two sides coincide with LIV Golf facing financial troubles after losing its primary source of funding.
This is the second lawsuit in the past month that LIV Golf is facing, adding even more troubles to the rest of its season. While the league resumes with a tournament this week, LIV Golf appears on shaky ground moving forward.
Here’s the latest in LIV Golf’s financial troubles.
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LIV Golf lawsuit
Mobii Systems, which provided LIV Golf its “Any Shot, Any Time” graphics during broadcasts, is suing for over $1 million in unpaid invoices and lost revenue after claiming the league breached its two-year contract, which ends in December of this year. The company claims that LIV Golf hasn’t paid $820,600 in licensing fees and $104,500 in usage fees this season, and is also looking for another $209,531 in lost revenue.
“Because LIV Golf repudiated the Agreement and terminated Mobii’s ability to perform under the Agreement, Mobii will not receive the revenue it was contractually entitled to receive from the remaining six events in LIV Golf’s schedule, all of which will take place during the Agreement’s term,” the lawsuit states, via ESPN.
Initially, lawyers for Mobii first served LIV Golf papers on May 8, giving the league a week to provide unpaid invoices. Then, on May 25, LIV Golf’s senior vice president of technology Nick Connor told Mobii Systems in an email that the league would no longer be using its technology for the remaining six events of the year.
That timeline matches up with when LIV Golf lost its funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on April 30.
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MORE: Saudi Arabia pulls funding from LIV Golf
What is Mobii Systems?
Mobii Systems is a company based in Canada that “is redefining how live sports are produced and experienced,” according to its LinkedIn. The company uses a Dynamic Cloud Mixer (DCM), which it describes as “a real-time cloud-native engine that is driven by Synthetic Intelligence to automate camera switching, overlays, and a synchronized multi-feed output.”
Primarily, Mobii aims to revolutionize sports broadcasts with different feeds and camera angles, along with multi-view templates. LIV Golf worked with Mobii Systems to help provide an “Any Shot, Any Time” feature on its broadcasts, which allowed fans to customize their viewing experience.
LIV Golf legal troubles
Ever since PIF pulled its funding from LIV Golf, the league has dealt with financial and legal issues. Besides now looking to raise money to stay in business, LIV Golf is now facing lawsuits from two different areas.
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One of those lawsuits is from Mobii Systems, whose troubles with LIV appear to stem from LIV’s inability to pay out the rest of its contract. The other lawsuit is from earlier this month, when World Golf Group and Premier Golf League sued LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for allegedly stealing the idea for a new golf league.
Among the ideas that WGG and PGL are claiming were stolen are shotgun starts, 54-hole events, golfers simultaneously holding individual and team tournaments, using knockout rounds during the championship tournament and using franchises with four golfers and a captain.
“The Claimants conceived the idea for a new golf league called the Premier Golf League,” the complaint said, via ESPN. “Over the course of several years, the Claimants refined the format of this league and produced business plans, contracts, financial models and other intellectual property belonging to the Claimants, which provided the blueprint for its launch and success. The Defendants conspired together to use the Claimants’ confidential information without the permission of the Claimants to launch the LIV Golf League.”
The lawsuit goes into specific details over the stolen ideas, dating back to 2009 when it claims that Andy Gardiner first came up with the idea.
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Is LIV Golf folding?
Now that LIV Golf lost its primary source of funding, the league is at risk of folding if it can’t properly replace the money. There are currently four events remaining on the LIV Golf schedule, one in the United Kingdom this week and three more in the United States, and the league hopes to go through with all four events.
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