Yahoo is making news today, but it's not the kind the company is probably looking for.  New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady filed suit against Yahoo in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court, reports Bloomberg.com.  The suit alleges that Yahoo used unauthorized images of the football star in advertising done in Sports Illustrated magazine and on online banner ads.  Brady is requested damages and an order forbidding Yahoo from using his images.

Bad press like this couldn't come at a worse time for the company.  Yahoo already announced a massive restructuring of its operations as it struggles to compete with Google.  This after an internal memo from a senior Yahoo executive was released to the press claiming that the company was in trouble because of poor management organization and poor focus.

On Thursday, Steve Berkowitz, head of Microsoft's online division, told Reuters that Yahoo was going to find itself out of the search race before too long.  Berkowitz said Yahoo didn't have the financial ability to stay in the competition that exists between itself, Google, and Microsoft.  Even though it currently ranks 3rd behind Google and Yahoo, Microsoft is confident that its enormous wealth will eventually squeeze Yahoo out of the running.

If Yahoo can't get a better grasp on its operations I don't think Microsoft will need much help bumping them out.  Who's running them, anyway?  For something as serious as this to slip through more than a few balls had to be dropped somewhere.  We can hope the restructuring helps get them back on track.

Hopefully it won't be a "too little too late" kinda deal.