Warren Ferguson; US judge ruled in NBA antitrust case

LOS ANGELES - Warren Ferguson, a judge for more than four decades who helped pave the way for teenage basketball players to join the NBA, has died. He was 87.

Judge Ferguson died June 25 of congestive heart failure at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., said his son, Peter.

Judge Ferguson was a federal judge in 1971 when he ruled in an antitrust case brought by Spencer Haywood, who wanted to sign with the Seattle SuperSonics. Judge Ferguson declared an NBA rule that forbade the signing of players until four years after they had completed high school illegal. The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Haywood's favor.

In another 1970s case, involving the Sony Betamax recorder, Judge Ferguson ruled that VCR manufacturers were not liable for copyright infringement committed by people who used the machines to tape TV shows. His decision was reversed by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals but the case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that some personal copying of TV shows was legal.

Judge Ferguson's judicial career began in 1959 on the Orange County Municipal Court in Anaheim.

He was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court in 1961 and nominated to the US District Court for the Central District of California by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Ferguson to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1979 and he remained active until 1986.

"It was not a job to him, it was a calling," said Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who served with Judge Ferguson on the Ninth Circuit.

In addition to his son, Judge Ferguson leaves a daughter, Faye, and four grandchildren.