NFLPA Gone Wild?

[Cooley Cadets]

Not sure if this should be posted here or in the Hide Out but was wondering what others impression of this was:


Joel Rosenblatt of Bloomberg News reports Yahoo sued the National Football League Players Association seeking to block the organization from controlling the players' names, pictures and voices that Yahoo uses in its fantasy-football game.

Yahoo, owner of the second most-used search engine in the U.S., filed the complaint June 1 in federal court in Minneapolis. The company claims the NFL players organization threatened to sue if it doesn't pay royalties for using publicly available biographical information.

"Yahoo, like other fantasy-football game providers, tracks, compiles and posts" NFL player statistics, Yahoo said in the complaint.

The NFL Players Association granted National Football League Players Inc. the "exclusive worldwide right" to license the players' biographical information, according to the complaint.


Does not sit well with me and strikes me as a prime example of a labor union that has become big business.

 

[RLLD]

I understand why they are doing it, they just want to make more money from their product.

I also do not think that they can or should hold rights to biographical information about people.

I get it that greed rules in our world, but I hope that in this instance the nihilist practices of the association falters.

 

[Cooley Cadets]

I understand why they are doing it, they just want to make more money from their product.

I also do not think that they can or should hold rights to biographical information about people.

I get it that greed rules in our world, but I hope that in this instance the nihilist practices of the association falters.

Why is pretty clear but actually doing so strikes me as in internal disconnect with the association not only going astray but entering an ethically questionable area (considering the treatment of retired players not something new)

Who has rights to public information? Would be nice if entities were held to a higher standard. But that is a soapbox topic for another day.

 

[WesDawg]

This is not the first time the NFLPA or MLBPA has gone after free fantasy sports providers due to licensing. This issue usually pops up every couple years and somehow gets shuffled under the rug after someone realizes it's a ridiculous money grab.
Last time it was the use of statistics, now it appears to be historical information about players.
I can't recall exactly which season it was, but the year Barry Bonds was trying to break away from the union for marketing purposes, many MLBPA licensed providers were forced to refer to him in their games as "SF OF" or some other such nonsense because they didn't negotiate with Bonds directly.

This too shall pass.

 

[catman]

The MLBPA tried to pull this a couple of years ago, as was said, and I believe the case was dismissed with no witnesses being called. I've got a hunch this one will go the same way.
No damage is being done to the product or reputation of the players. In fact, they have more fans because of fantasy sports.

 

[Sgt John]

Sounds like I will be starting the following people after this suit:

QB Peyton Brady
RB Steve Gore
RB LaDanian Westbrook
WR Chad DosTres
WR Andre Welker
WR Larry Moss
TE Tony Gates
K Who cares
DEF Dallas Vikings.

 

[Mike]

Copyright protection gone wild.

NFL does it, and many other organizations/companies do it.

The NFL could actually win something like this pretty easily if they want. After all, even though fantasy sports helps promote the NFL, it is also promoting yahoo, so why shouldn't they have to pay for the rights to use the information?

Ford Motor Company has shut down several companies that used their name, or the name of their car in their business name over the past couple years, or for using any of their logos.

It is a fine line, and sometimes the lawyers go too far.

 

[Cooley Cadets]

The NFL could actually win something like this pretty easily if they want. After all, even though fantasy sports helps promote the NFL, it is also promoting yahoo, so why shouldn't they have to pay for the rights to use the information?

Not so easy. What judge is going to rule that corporate entities are able to make people pay to use public information? Not that you can not find one but talk about exposing yourself as having been bought.

 

[catman]

Copyright protection gone wild.

NFL does it, and many other organizations/companies do it.

The NFL could actually win something like this pretty easily if they want. After all, even though fantasy sports helps promote the NFL, it is also promoting yahoo, so why shouldn't they have to pay for the rights to use the information?

Ford Motor Company has shut down several companies that used their name, or the name of their car in their business name over the past couple years, or for using any of their logos.

It is a fine line, and sometimes the lawyers go too far.

There is a rule that damage must be done to the person or company, either financial or reputation. Neither is the case with fantasy sports. If a judge allows this case to proceed, that judge should be removed from his/her chair.

 

[Sgt John]

or nominated for Supreme Court :gay2:

 

[Mike]

Not so easy. What judge is going to rule that corporate entities are able to make people pay to use public information? Not that you can not find one but talk about exposing yourself as having been bought.

Is it public information? I ask because I don't truly know the answer to this. Are the official stats not the property of the NFL? Is there no copyright protection of these stats?

 

[Cooley Cadets]

Is it public information? I ask because I don't truly know the answer to this. Are the official stats not the property of the NFL? Is there no copyright protection of these stats?

My guess would be no.

Stats are simply information resulting from the game. Replaying of the game could be protected but not people watching the game and talking about it afterwards. Stats is just a way of communicating what happened in the game it is not the actual product so it should not be covered.

 

[Mike]

Well, "statisticians" are employed by somebody, and in this case, I believe it is the NFL. In that case, it comes down to what kind of protection the league has on these stats.

Does Yahoo have somebody at the games keeping stats, or are they using the ones that are being kept at the expense of the NFL? I'm thinking they use the NFL's...

Don't get me wrong, I think it is a stupid move by the NFLPA to do this, but, efforts have to be made to protect the players. In this case, maybe they have gone too far, but in legal terms, they have a greater than zero chance of winning (if they want to push the issue)

 

[Cooley Cadets]

Well, "statisticians" are employed by somebody, and in this case, I believe it is the NFL. In that case, it comes down to what kind of protection the league has on these stats.

In this case, maybe they have gone too far, but in legal terms, they have a greater than zero chance of winning (if they want to push the issue)

I do not doubt that the NFL has statisticians but I would imagine the AP or some similar organization.

Never said they had 0 chance just not an easy one.