Yahoo sues NFL players group over fantasy stats
Yahoo's StatTracker, a premium service, provides fantasy team owners statistical updates on players moments after they're involved in plays (click image for closer look).
(Credit: Yahoo)Yahoo has filed a lawsuit against the NFL Players Association, contending that it shouldn't be forced to pay royalties for using players' names, statistics, and photos in its online fantasy football game because the information is publicly available.
The complaint (PDF), which was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, alleges that the players group has threatened to sue the Internet giant if it doesn't pay licensing fees for the information. Yahoo had licensing agreements with the players union for previous football seasons, but the last of those deals expired on March 1, according to the complaint.
Yahoo claims it no longer needs the union's permission to use the players' information, citing an April court decision in a similar case between the players group and CBS Interactive (the parent company of CNET). The court in that case found that CBS Interactive didn't have to pay for use of football players' names or statistics because the information was already in the public domain. The players association is currently appealing that decision.
Major League Baseball lost a similar case in 2007 to CBC Distribution and Marketing--a Missouri company that sells fantasy sports products via the Web, e-mail, regular mail, and phone. MLB's Internet media arm, later joined by the pro-baseball players' union, had claimed that CBC was using baseball players' names and statistics without a license, thereby violating the players' rights to publicity under state intellectual property laws.
CBC won at the district court level and again at the appeals court level, which held that the company's "first amendment rights in offering its fantasy baseball products supersede the players' rights of publicity."
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Yahoo's fantasy game business does not violate any rights of publicity owned or controlled by the players group, and prevent the players group from interfering with or threatening Yahoo's fantasy game business.
As many as 15 million people participate in fantasy football leagues, generating more than $1 billion a year in revenue, according to court documents filed in that case.
Carl Francis, director of communications for the NFL Players Association, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven. 
Look at that. I used your name without paying you a single royalty for my posting pleasure. Why and how did I manage that? Fair use.
Sports depends on Fans. Fans talk sports, buy sports merchancies, listen to sports programs and watch sports shows. If Fans in the process of being fans create and use fantasy game sites. They are doing nothing more than what ever sports player would have them do. Be fans. Sports gets free promotions out of the deal and Fans get to be fans. It's win win.
If they want to charge royalties, they also need to start paying the fans for their tireless promoition. You can find copyrighted material on all sides of this issue.
I have no idea why people are yelling and screaming mad about what wall street executives get paid (who generally work 80 hour weeks....) but are perfectly happy to see their favorite sports players making just as much or more. These guys are not worth millions of dollars and what they provide is just a wide-open drain on the middle class income. Sports fans, wake up and find something else to do with your time.
As for content, why the heck should Yahoo (or any other fantasy site) have to pay royalties on it's own content? The players and leages did'nt provide the fantays site, they didn't generate the copyrighted site etc..They play ball and sell tickets and merchandies. That's enough for them.
They're not claiming "Athletes already make a lot of money", they're claiming "this data (players names and stats) is already in the public domain - free for everyone to use, so why should we have to pay just because we're successful at packaging and selling it?"
Also, you may not agree that athletes are worth the $$$ but there is nobody that reaches the level of the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB without an insane amount of very hard work from the time they are very young. The life span of their paid careers is also very short. There's lots of broke x athletes who can barely walk.
So you think it shouldn't be legal to make money off of any public data? Remember Yahoo isn't being accused of stealing anything, just profiting.
- by hankthedwarf June 4, 2009 4:52 PM PDT
- Last time I checked Yahoo isn't a non-profit business (although some of their business moves may make that statement questionable). Of course they should pay royalties for using likenesses in an online game. This isn't a question of sports reporting or journalism...this is a for-profit game, be it through advertising or premium services.
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(17 Comments)And it's not just the rich elite players whom the NFLPA represents, but thousands of retired no-name NFL players who made very little money for the amount of hell they put their bodies through, while building up the NFL into the largest, most profitable sport in America.