Independent fantasy sites score legal victory over MLB
Here is a story from Eric Fisher of Sports Business Daily/Journal about the latest setback for Major League Baseball in its effort to control what appears on independent sites catering to fantasy sports fans:
CDM Fantasy Sports today gained another legal victory over the MLBPA and MLBAM when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed an August '06 summary judgment in Missouri allowing the commercial use of MLB player names and statistics for fantasy games without a license. In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled, "The facts in this case barely, if at all, implicate the interests that states typically intend to vindicate by providing rights of publicity to individuals . . . We hold that [CDM's] first amendment rights in offering its fantasy baseball products supersede the players' rights of publicity."
"We're obviously thrilled. Our client is happy, but more than that, an entire industry is celebrating," said Rudy Telscher, an attorney representing CDM.
MLBAM and MLBPA execs were not immediately available for comment. The pair have three primary options going forward: drop the case entirely, seek to have the matter heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, or petition to have the entire appeals court rehear the case. Telscher said he expects one of the latter two options to be pursued, even as both have significant obstacles to victory. "Even if they're down by six runs in the bottom of the ninth, you have to think they're going to try to take their last at-bats," Telscher said. "They have a lot of resources, and they're obviously very invested in this. But from where we sit, we've won. We don't have to do anything unless they elect to make a move."
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