Does Fantasy Baseball Violate Copyright?
Are fantasy web sites illegally providing users with player statistics, infringing on players' right of publicity and profiting from unlicensed material, MLB thinks so:
Wired News: "We fully support the conclusion in the Motorola case, [said Bob Bowman, the CEO of MLB Advanced Media]. We don't think of broadcasting of the score every half-inning as an exhibition of the game. But if you're describing what happens every time the pitcher moves his arm, that is an exhibition of the game. Anything more granular than every half-inning is something we think might be a problem."
One problem MLB will face is that facts are not copyrightable.
Some notes on NBA v. Motorola (2d Cir. 1997): NBA did not want Motorola sending score updates via pagers. ‘Hot News’ claim of misappropriation failed becuase score updates only satisfied 3 of 5 ‘Hot News’ requirements: (i) cost gathering, (ii) time-sensitive, (iii) free-riding use, (iv) direct competition w/ similar service, (v) free-riding reduces incentive to produce such similar service. Specifically, Motorola spent their own time and money collecting that data.
MLB Copyright Misuse
Elizabeth Rader: "Chris Sprigman alerted me to Major League Baseball's attempt to misuse copyright in its broadcasts to try to prevent sports websites from providing facts, real time, about ball games, play by play, urging that such speech constitutes an exhibition of copyrighted work."
See also: CDM Distribution & Marketing v. MLB Advanced Media, No. 4:05CV 22MLM (E.D. Mo.).
Originally published Nov 30, 2003
"Player statistics are in the public domain. We've never disputed that," [Jim Gallagher, senior vice president, corporate communications for MLB Advance Media] said. "But if you're going to use statistics in a game for profit, you need a license from us to do that. We own those statistics when they're used for commercial gain." Technology Changes Rules of the GameMLB attempts to distinguish themselves from NBA
Wired News: "We fully support the conclusion in the Motorola case, [said Bob Bowman, the CEO of MLB Advanced Media]. We don't think of broadcasting of the score every half-inning as an exhibition of the game. But if you're describing what happens every time the pitcher moves his arm, that is an exhibition of the game. Anything more granular than every half-inning is something we think might be a problem."
One problem MLB will face is that facts are not copyrightable.
Some notes on NBA v. Motorola (2d Cir. 1997): NBA did not want Motorola sending score updates via pagers. ‘Hot News’ claim of misappropriation failed becuase score updates only satisfied 3 of 5 ‘Hot News’ requirements: (i) cost gathering, (ii) time-sensitive, (iii) free-riding use, (iv) direct competition w/ similar service, (v) free-riding reduces incentive to produce such similar service. Specifically, Motorola spent their own time and money collecting that data.
MLB Copyright Misuse
Elizabeth Rader: "Chris Sprigman alerted me to Major League Baseball's attempt to misuse copyright in its broadcasts to try to prevent sports websites from providing facts, real time, about ball games, play by play, urging that such speech constitutes an exhibition of copyrighted work."
See also: CDM Distribution & Marketing v. MLB Advanced Media, No. 4:05CV 22MLM (E.D. Mo.).
Originally published Nov 30, 2003
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