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Both Sides Unsure About Injunction in NCAA Case

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Attorneys for a class of former college athletes joined with the NCAA in asking Chief U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken on Tuesday to clarify her order prohibiting payments to players for the use of their names, images and likenesses.

The injunction issued Friday prevents the NCAA "from enforcing any rules or bylaws that would prohibit its member schools and conferences from offering their FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] football or Division I basketball recruits a limited share of the revenues generated from the use of their names, images, and likenesses in addition to a full grant-in-aid."

Wilken added: "the injunction does not [yet] prohibit the application of the current NCAA rules with respect to student-athletes who were enrolled or will enroll in college before July 1, 2016."

Former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon led 20 student athletes in a 2009 class action against the governing body for college athletics for the right to a share in the television broadcast revenue for their names, images and likenesses. A two-week bench trial occurred in June.

Lawyers for the players disagree with the NCAA's belief that the injunction is limited only to prospective student athletes who enroll in college on or after July 1, 2016.

In a motion for clarification filed Tuesday, Sathya Gosselin with Hausfeld LLP wrote: "That exclusion of thousands of current student-athletes (operating under one-year renewable scholarships or multi-year scholarships) is plainly inconsistent with the court's injunction, which twice identifies the 'licensing or use of prospective, current, or former' student-athlete NILs, as even the NCAA acknowledges."

"And it could lead to inadvertent disparities among teammates, despite the court's repeated emphasis on equal sharing among student-athletes," Gosselin added.

The injunction should begin applying to student-athletes during the next recruiting cycle, which begins on Aug. 1, 2015, the motion states.

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