Lawsuit that could impact Fantasy Football (1 Viewer)

[Ozymandias]

Major League Baseball requires a license to use baseball stats. That is now being challenged in court.

I am sure that the NFLPA will make fantasy football part of any new agreement with the NFL.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060115/ap_on_...tistics_lawsuit

 

[fridayfrenzy]

Isn't this old news?

 

[Kleck]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

 

[GregR_2]

Isn't this old news?

It's a new development that may lead to a direct court ruling on ownership of the stats. Definitely worth being posted.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

Isn't this old news?

It's a new development that may lead to a direct court ruling on ownership of the stats. Definitely worth being posted.

I realize this. It will only be a matter of time.

 

[diesel7982]

CDM filed this lawsuit almost a year ago. They advertise here and are where I play all my fantasy games.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

If the lake goes dry it affects those directly selling water drawn from the lake, but it also affects those selling boats in the marina on the lake.

 

[smcindoe]

This sort of thing will also impact video games. I've been told that there's really no strong legal ground for claiming ownership of a player's stats and characteristics and thereby demanding huge licensing fees to use a player's totals in a game.

 

[Kleck]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

If the lake goes dry it affects those directly selling water drawn from the lake, but it also affects those selling boats in the marina on the lake.

No one is saying the lake will go dry. If anything changes it will just be the NFLPA asking for their cut. They don't want fantasy football to go away.

 

[iSnitch]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

If the lake goes dry it affects those directly selling water drawn from the lake, but it also affects those selling boats in the marina on the lake.

No one is saying the lake will go dry. If anything changes it will just be the NFLPA asking for their cut. They don't want fantasy football to go away.

I thought he was talking about Bryant Boats.

 

[Sack-Religious]

I had contact with NFL Players, Inc. According to NFL Players, Inc. as of August 2004, they were not claiming ownership of statistical information.They are claiming that the use of a player's name in Management software and contests falls under their licensing domain.Theyou further mentioned that there would be no effective way for them to expect ever single newspaper to pay for a license for the regurgitation of statistical information.

 

[Keys Myaths]

Honestly, Ken, that seems reasonable to me.Isn't that the same as selling out team/players' names to video games?

 

[cobalt_27]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

If the lake goes dry it affects those directly selling water drawn from the lake, but it also affects those selling boats in the marina on the lake.

No one is saying the lake will go dry. If anything changes it will just be the NFLPA asking for their cut. They don't want fantasy football to go away.

Exactly. It won't be without some consequences to us (read: we'll pay a little more money for our fantasy products). But, I don't think it's anything to get terribly alarmed about. The NFLPA ain't a bunch of rocket scientists, but they're not total idiots.:crossingfingers:

 

[Rhino]

Isn't this old news?

Pretty much, but it's not just the stats. It's the right to utilize player's names in order to make a profit. Might have a huge impact on sites like MFL and other league management sites. Not near as much on information sites like ours.

If the lake goes dry it affects those directly selling water drawn from the lake, but it also affects those selling boats in the marina on the lake.

No one is saying the lake will go dry. If anything changes it will just be the NFLPA asking for their cut. They don't want fantasy football to go away.

They don't want to make Fantasy Football go away - but they might want you to buy "their brand" of fantasy football.Honestly, this scares me because I've seen the track record of the NFL and the Player's Union and the deals they make. The Direct TV monopoly on the Sunday Ticket and EA sports monopoly on the video game market tells me that they are now looking to monopolize (and capitalize) on the growing popularity of Fantasy Football.

Mark my words - pretty soon NFL.com (or some other appointed web site - maybe CBSSportsline) will be the ONLY place to get downloadable stats from the the NFL games. If they can find a legal way to pull this off, they will.

And I'll be back to scoring my league with the Monday morning box scores.

 

[Red Apples]

I had contact with NFL Players, Inc. According to NFL Players, Inc. as of August 2004, they were not claiming ownership of statistical information.

They are claiming that the use of a player's name in Management software and contests falls under their licensing domain.

Theyou further mentioned that there would be no effective way for them to expect ever single newspaper to pay for a license for the regurgitation of statistical information.

news doesnt have to pay licensing fees because they are news. those sites that are used for entertainment have to pay fees.

 

[stugnut]

If they are contesting the use of player names and not the use of player stats, what would stop a league site from assigning each player a number (eg, Portis=33145) and then just reporting stats for that "number", leaving it up to each commish or to a software intermediary to then translate the stats back to each player? With computers, this could be totally transparant to the end user.

 

[iSnitch]

If they are contesting the use of player names and not the use of player stats, what would stop a league site from assigning each player a number (eg, Portis=33145) and then just reporting stats for that "number", leaving it up to each commish or to a software intermediary to then translate the stats back to each player? With computers, this could be totally transparant to the end user.

My guess would be sites would be able to list players by # but as soon as they assigned a name to the stats they'd have to pay. So it'd be up to the consumer to know each #.Really, I'm just talking out of my rear end here.

 

[Ozymandias]

It will be another way for Sharks to dominate.With my first pick, I take #23.Who's that?I'm not allowed to tell you. But he had 28 td's last year.