Baseball Changes Story Against Fantasy League; Doesn't Know When To Give Up For Its Own Good
from the pissing-off-the-fans dept
Major League Baseball just doesn't know when to stop. As we noted yesterday, MLB lost their case where they claimed that an online fantasy league could be prevented from using the names and stats of baseball players. We even had an MLB.com employee stop by and admit that MLB's position was embarrassing. However, it seems that the folks at the top still don't get it. They've decided to appeal the case. Notably, though, it appears like they're trying to change their story slightly, saying that they agree player names and stats are public domain (which is not what they had been saying earlier), but that the use of team logos was illegal without a license. That's a different argument altogether, and goes back to trademark law -- rather than copyright law or rights of privacy. Again, though, they may have a difficult case on their hands. As we've discussed repeatedly, a trademark is supposed to prevent confusion, not give the holder complete control over the trademark. So, as long as the fantasy league makes it clear that baseball and the teams don't officially endorse their league, it may be difficult for MLB to claim confusion. While we've been attacking this from the business and legal perspective for years, it seems that even those on the sports side of the fence can't figure out what MLB's reasoning is here. King Kaufman, one of my favorite sportswriters, has written up a piece telling MLB how lucky they are that they lost this decision. He points out how little money they actually make from fantasy licensing -- and how much they stand to lose by continuing to piss off their fans.
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agreeing with a statement made
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Re: agreeing with a statement made
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Hold on...
This is a shining example of why people don't want to deal with big corporations when it comes to copyrightable and trademarked material (RIAA). They always try to rig the contract so they own everything and give the proverbial drop in the bucket in return.
Next thing you know someone will claim confusion when I make my own music videos and post them on the net. Oh yeah...
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So ridiculous
You would think that there would be enough common sense among the corporate do-gooders in the MLB to avoid this pety issue and save the time and effort. All this does is prove that in almost every business no matter how big or small there are some idiots at the top.
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MLB jerks and Media stupidity
Also, even though many in the media seem to agree in the long run its better for pro sports to have fantasy leagues generate interest, they always seem to want to say that the decisions will cost pro sports so many millions of dollars. Why it is "costing" pro sports because they no longer be able to sell rights they don't own? What about the opportunities lost to the average joe who would participate in fantasy gaming but loathes money grubbing, advertisement bloated, mega sites like ESPN.
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Other Leagues Starting to Look Into It
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Baseball sucks donkey balls!
Aren't you getting tired of these people making tons of money and then crying like little babies when they lose a few bucks.
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Owners are greedy
Good thing the courts determined that greed has gone too far.
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Re:
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What bothers me...
You would think that the major league sports would want the attention that fantasy league generate. From what I understand the fastasy leagues use the end game stats of the majors which means fantasy players need to pay attention to the majors for stats. And I'm sure alot of the fantasy fans would start watching the major leagues if for nothing more than to get the scores ASAP.
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Fantasy Sports
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Yeah
-sarcasm alert-
Actually, I am pissed of at MLB for promoting one of the most BORING games on earth. I have heard baseball claimed as NOT a sport, but a pasttime, and ranks right up their with Golf, Tennis, and Nascar racing as one of the most wasted uses of television resources in history.
The bottom line is all a fantasy legue site needs to do is generate random logos and player names and stats, after all, it is a fantasy, its not a Factual Baseball Legue.
But, I will stand in the large crowd of people who collectively don't care what the outcome of this will be.
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Re: Owners are greedy
Reminds me of something else... can't quite put my finger on it... something leadership at the highest levels ignoring the people whose revenue they depend on in favor of listening to their close, trusted advisers who are even more out of touch than the actual leaders.
Oh, well. I'm sure it will come to me later. Meanwhile, I continue to be amused (at best) by the way the world is so far ahead of any large organization's policies.
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The lawyers are paid for, so use them
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corporate greed
I have essentially boycotted spending money on professional sports with the exception of an occasional overpriced ticket to attend a game. MLB and the MLBPA are alienating the fan base with all their greed, and I hope more fans will show them that they cannot survive without our $$.
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everything costs millions of dollars
careless actions cost this country millions of dollars every day. failing to watch a commercial costs broadcasters millions of dollars. not wearing you seatbelt costs millions of dollars. everytime teenagers have sex it costs us, the tax payers, millions of dollars.
sarcastic posts to websites cost legitimate posters millions of dollars. how much is a gallon of gas today? you guessed it: millions of dollars.
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Losers
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MLB
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Perfect
Maybe we could have trading cards for lawyers.
Stats on the back could be wins/losses, objection %s, asshole rantings...
Instead of gum each pack of trading cards could come with a tube of KY and a rubber glove.
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Bud Selig, a.k.a Mr. Moron
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Pro Baseball is worthless
Baseball as a professional sport sucks. I have more fun going to minor league games than major league games and no one enjoys watching pro ball on tv. Pro baseball players all suck crotch and use performance enhancing drugs to maximize their home runs. It's stupid.
Bringing it back to the article, fantasy leagues seem to encourage the general public to watch the sport more closely so they know the stats of each player and they know the points they accumulate in a given game. How could that possibly be bad for baseball?
I think Bud Selig has gotten his hands on what the music industry has been smoking. They both seem intent on destroying their already dwindling fan/customer base.
Why don't we boycott all pro baseball games until the only option left is to fire all of the freakishly moronic people at the top along with all the pro players and allow people who would really appreciate it play the game, like AAA players.
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Re: Pro Baseball is worthless
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Baseball is under the most heat
These decisions have put the MLB under a lot of pressure and fantasy baseball just hits the spot of skepticism. Fantasy baseball is all about stats, and since that is one of the difficult issues going on these days, it makes sense that the league would react like this.
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