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Report: NCAA requests 15-month delay of trial in O'Bannon case

Former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon. (Isaac Brekken, AP)

Lawyers for EA Sports want the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit dismissed. (Isaac Brekken, AP Photo)

O'Bannon vs. NCAA, an anti-trust lawsuit filed in 2009 by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon regarding the use of collegiate athletes' likeness, has been delayed several times since its inception.

Now the NCAA is asking for a 15-month delay of the trial, reports USA TODAY Sports, which would push it to August of 2015. A trial is currently set for June of next year.

From the report:

As part of a series of filings Monday that involved all of the parties in the case, the NCAA's co-defendants – video game manufacturer Electronic Arts and the nation's leading collegiate trademark licensing and marketing firm, Collegiate Licensing Co. (CLC) -proposed a five-month delay while the NCAA sought a trial date of Aug. 28, 2015.

The plaintiffs, led by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, wrote Monday that they want U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken to leave the date unchanged.

The case, which began in May 2009, has seen multiple re-schedulings of trial dates, the most recent ones moving the case back from March 2013 and then February 2014.

Since conducting a hearing June 20 on the plaintiffs' bid for the case to be certified as class action – an issue she has yet to decide – Wilken has faced a lengthy series of moves and countermoves that became even further complicated on Monday, when EA stated its intention to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up two other cases involving the use of college athletes' names and likenesses.

STAPLES: Complete O'Bannon case primer