2008 Woodie Awards
The Sports Pile: It's reality, actually: Athletes' names are public domain
Federal court denies baseball's appeal against fantasy sports company
Will Brinson
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Sports
Last Thursday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling that the use of professional athletes' names in conjunction with their statistics for the purposes of fantasy sports is a matter of public domain. It might not seem like a big deal, but it's secretly enormous, and not just for "stat nerds" who like to play general manager in some fictional world, or whatever derogatory term you want to sling at the world of fantasy sports. This is an enormous deal for all sports fans, video game players and anyone who gives a crap about Constitutional rights.
Maybe that seems like it's stretching it a bit, especially considering the uneducated will shrug this off as "just an appeal." I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked with enough to know that if the Major League Baseball Players Association had won this appeal, some serious trouble in the world of sports licensing and personal marketing was about to go down.
First, some brief history:
In 2005 Major League Baseball Advanced Media (a company part and partial consisting of baseball owners for the purpose of marketing and web development) purchased the "right to publicity" from the MLB Players Association. What this meant was that MLBAM now could control who they granted licenses to, in terms of the ability of online developers and companies to use the names of professional baseball players.
For instance, when you play MLB '08 (or Madden '08, or whatever) on your video game console, EA Sports (etc.) has purchased the licensing rights to recreate the likeness and to use the name of the professional athletes involved in that game, and they have paid a ton of money to do so. When MLBAM took those rights over from the Players Association, they jacked the fees up even higher and became particular about who they would let use the naming rights.
Now, as with all online-based issues, not everyone was going to actually listen to the MLBAM, like people continuing to use players' names and statistics to develop fantasy sports platforms. If you have questions about this not-so-legal behavior, please consult my good friend Mr. Limewire.
Maybe that seems like it's stretching it a bit, especially considering the uneducated will shrug this off as "just an appeal." I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked with enough to know that if the Major League Baseball Players Association had won this appeal, some serious trouble in the world of sports licensing and personal marketing was about to go down.
First, some brief history:
In 2005 Major League Baseball Advanced Media (a company part and partial consisting of baseball owners for the purpose of marketing and web development) purchased the "right to publicity" from the MLB Players Association. What this meant was that MLBAM now could control who they granted licenses to, in terms of the ability of online developers and companies to use the names of professional baseball players.
For instance, when you play MLB '08 (or Madden '08, or whatever) on your video game console, EA Sports (etc.) has purchased the licensing rights to recreate the likeness and to use the name of the professional athletes involved in that game, and they have paid a ton of money to do so. When MLBAM took those rights over from the Players Association, they jacked the fees up even higher and became particular about who they would let use the naming rights.
Now, as with all online-based issues, not everyone was going to actually listen to the MLBAM, like people continuing to use players' names and statistics to develop fantasy sports platforms. If you have questions about this not-so-legal behavior, please consult my good friend Mr. Limewire.
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