Fantasy baseball lawsuit (1 Viewer)

[GroveDiesel]

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I'm not sure if this has been discussed here before but I couldn't find a thread on it. There is a legal fight going on right now between MLB/the MLB players' union and a website called CDMsports.com. CDMsports.com runs fantasy baseball leagues. In the past they had a licensing deal with with MLB to use the names of the players/teams/etc. A year or two ago MLB decided that they only wanted to deal with major websites that would pay them huge amounts of money and refused to license their product anymore. CDMsports.com continued to host leagues saying that they are only using readily available public information and that it is public domain. MLB is arguing that they are violating a legal concept called "right of publicity."

So far the courts have basically constrained this right of publicity to likenesses, voices, etc. They have allowed newspapers, tv news, etc. to print scores/boxscores/statistics though. It is not totally clear where they will come out on this though.

This is a case that could have a huge impact on ALL fantasy sports. If the courts rule that the use of statistics and players' names fall under the "right of publicity," then ALL fantasy related sites are going to have to either pony up huge licensing fees or shut down. And if the NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL/NASCAR or whatever sporting body does not want to even offer to sell you a license, there's nothing that the site can do.

I highly encourage all fantasy players to follow this case closely. This is something that is a very real threat to the very existence of terrific sites like FBG.

 

[GregR_2]

It's definitely of interest to fantasy sports nuts as it could affect what sites are able to host FF leagues. Though Joe had indicated in another recent thread that the legal advice he has gotten is that it wouldn't affect FBG.

A question I have for Joe, or a mod, is how the MLB lawsuit against fantasy baseball sites might impact this site? I would think it won't have a great impact, since it seems that FBG falls under the larger definition of journalism and many of the tools discussed (though I am not a member so I go from hearsay) are strictly statistics related. But the league contest might go out the window. Has Joe or David consulted an attorney on this?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me know and I'll expand on my question.

Hi Velcro,Yes, two of my closest friends are attorneys (one specializing in copyright / intellectual property law which is primarily what the MLB suit pertains to). FBG and other information services like us are easily out of the scope of what they're looking at. We fall into the journalism area.

J

 

[diesel7982]

There are threads on this up to 2 years old, and there is alot of info about it on the internet.

I play alot of games with CDM, and have been following it fairly closely. Right now, it looks like the MLB PA is on the wrong side of this, and CDM will win out.

 

[Mungo Burrows]

It's definitely of interest to fantasy sports nuts as it could affect what sites are able to host FF leagues. Though Joe had indicated in another recent thread that the legal advice he has gotten is that it wouldn't affect FBG.

A question I have for Joe, or a mod, is how the MLB lawsuit against fantasy baseball sites might impact this site? I would think it won't have a great impact, since it seems that FBG falls under the larger definition of journalism and many of the tools discussed (though I am not a member so I go from hearsay) are strictly statistics related. But the league contest might go out the window. Has Joe or David consulted an attorney on this?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me know and I'll expand on my question.

Hi Velcro,Yes, two of my closest friends are attorneys (one specializing in copyright / intellectual property law which is primarily what the MLB suit pertains to). FBG and other information services like us are easily out of the scope of what they're looking at. We fall into the journalism area.

J

Interesting. The "core" FBG offerings shouldn't be affected, but I would think this could have a significant impact on their FFTOC investment.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Amazing that I missed a thread from just days ago.

Good to hear that it looks like this won't affect information sites like this one. Obviously I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, but it still worries me a bit. All it takes is a few old guys sitting on a court that know nothing about fantasy sports to issue a ruling broad enough to make this a problem. I do think that MLB is facing a severe uphill climb though in this case. I think the best they can really hope for is to eliminate live scoring from non-licensed sites, and even that's a stretch.

 

[diesel7982]

Amazing that I missed a thread from just days ago.

Good to hear that it looks like this won't affect information sites like this one. Obviously I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, but it still worries me a bit. All it takes is a few old guys sitting on a court that know nothing about fantasy sports to issue a ruling broad enough to make this a problem. I do think that MLB is facing a severe uphill climb though in this case. I think the best they can really hope for is to eliminate live scoring from non-licensed sites, and even that's a stretch.

I would hope its transparent as a business move. MLB is hoping to become the exclusive provider of fantasy baseball games by restricting licensing. They would have the ability to pick and choose their competitors by selling licenses. CDM has already been told by MLB they will not be granted a license, as they are too large of a competitor.