A Big Day For Fantasy Sports

I guess we can now throw away those NFLPA and MLBAM letters! This is
a great day for fantasy sports, and those of us who help create the
game long before the NFL and MLB jumped on the bandwagon (and it
means I still have a job!!):

CDM wins lawsuit with MLBAM
August 8th, 2006 - via Rototimes and other sources

Earlier today, a federal judge in St. Louis, Missouri ruled in favor
of CDM Fantasy Sports in the lawsuit between CBC Distributing and
Marketing (CDM) and Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM).

Judge Mary Ann Medler granted CDM's motion for summary judgment and
denied motions for summary judgment filed by MLBAM and the Major
League Baseball Player's Association (MLBPA). The judge also
dismissed all counterclaims filed by MLBAM and the MLBPA.

At issue was whether CDM's use of player names and statistics in
fantasy games violated the players' rights of publicity. MLBAM argued
that it owned exclusive rights to license player names for use in
fantasy contests by virtue of an agreement made with the MLBPA in
January of 2005. CDM argued that player names and statistics were in
the public domain and could be used by anyone, much as boxscores are
printed for free in newspapers and on websites every day.

Judge Medler's finding stated, in part, the following: "the court
finds that the undisputed facts establish that the players do not
have a right of publicity in their names and playing records as used
in CBC's fantasy games and that CBC has not violated the players'
claimed right of publicity. The court finds further that the
undisputed facts establish the names and playing records of Major
League baseball players as used in CBC's fantasy games are not
copyrightable and, therefore, federal copyright law does not preempt
the players' claimed right of publicity."

The judge ruled that MLBAM and the MLBPA "not interfere with CBC's
using players' names and playing records on its website and in its
fantasy baseball games in the manner presented in this case;"