They'd Have Gotten Away With It, If It Weren't For That Medler-ing Judge

MLB and the MLBPA took some time off last week from bickering with each other in order to bicker in court with companies who run online fantasy games. In the case of CDC v. MLBAM, the dynamic duo tried to convince a U.S. District Court in Missouri that the names and statistics of players participating in major league games are copywritable materials and that anyone wishing to use them for the purposes of selling fantasy baseball leagues must pay a licensing fee.

I'm no lawyer, not even a simple country hyperchicken, but this seemed pretty clear even to my layman's eye that it was a case without any legal merit. Aside from the hundred or so years of precendence of boxscores containing names and statistics being available in newspapers every day during the summer, the whole idea is about as logical as declaring the minutes of the United States Senate as copyrighted materials.

Judge Mary Ann Medler came to about the same conclusion. She ruled that such names and stats were not protected by the privacy rights of the players (even if they played for the Marlins), but were instead part of the public domain.

Unsurprisingly, Major League Baseball Advanced Marketing and the MLBPA plan to appeal the decision. No doubt, the other major sports will file "friend of the court" briefings to help them. Good luck with that.

Judge Medler's opinion and conclusion can be found here and here.