Media Assistance:
 Jessica Martin Director, News & Information for the School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work jessica_martin@wustl.edu (314) 935-5251 |
Feb. 2, 2006 -- Fantasy sports providers and fans will be closely following the ongoing case involving CBC Distribution, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association. CBC, a company that runs fantasy sports leagues, sued MLB to establish its rights to use statistics and names of MLB players as part of its online leagues. The Players Association intervened to establish the players' rights to control their own names and associated statistics. Both MLB and the Players Association filed counterclaims against CBC for using the names and statistics.
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"The real bang for the buck here is a 'right of publicity' claim. The right of publicity prevents someone from using another's name, likeness or identity for commercial advantage without that person's consent," says Jennifer Rothman, copyright and entertainment law expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "The concern is that fantasy sports leagues use players' names without permission and derive profits from doing so. The statistics are not going to be an issue for CBC and there is not going be a copyright claim here because there is no copyrighted material."
This case could have an effect on all fantasy sports leagues.
"They're all at risk," Rothman says. "If CBC loses this case, everyone is going to have to go to the players associations and the leagues and get permission to use the names, but not the statistics. If the court decides this is a 'right of publicity' violation, it would shut down all of the fantasy baseball leagues that aren't licensed by Major League Baseball."
According to Rothman, the interesting thing about this specific case, and one of the reasons CBC faces an uphill battle, is that CBC had previously licensed the use of players' names and statistics. In the original licensing contract, CBC agreed that the players had property rights of their names and related statistics.
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| Jennifer Rothman |
"CBC was already paying the Major League Players Association a cut of what it was earning," she says. "And then, when its license expired, the Players Association did not want to renew the contract. Instead, the players made a deal with Major League Baseball for $50 million dollars." MLB now contends that all fantasy baseball leagues need to license the players' names and statistics.
Even if MLB wins, gamers may be able to continue their leagues on free sites or by using the players' numbers instead of names. "It will be interesting to see whether Major League Baseball spends a lot of money on litigation that ultimately may not give them a big victory," Rothman says.
"Major League Baseball, however, is undoubtedly planning to launch their own fantasy league or to license leagues to certain individuals so that Major League Baseball can garner some of that money," Rothman says. "I think Major League Baseball should also be a little afraid that these established leagues may go underground. We may have a peer-to-peer situation where people will find a way to do this without licensing." The case is scheduled for a jury trial later this year.
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