Yet Again: Court Tells MLB It Doesn't Own Facts
from the just-let-people-play dept
After being smacked down multiple times by courts, Major League Baseball has continued to tilt at the windmill of copyright, claiming again that it owns the rights to players' names and stats and no one can use them without paying MLB a fee. The problem with this, of course, is that you cannot own facts. Despite the court pointing this out repeatedly, MLB's lawyers have continued to push the case forward. Kevin writes in to let us know that, once again, baseball has been smacked down, as an appeal to rehear the entire case has been denied by the appeals court meaning the only thing left to do is appeal to the Supreme Court. Given how much effort MLB has put into this lawsuit don't be surprised to see that appeal happen. However, it would be surprising if the Supreme Court actually took the case.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: baseball, copyright, facts, fantasy baseball, ownership, right of privacy
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Waiting it Out
Can you imagine the can of worms that would be opened if MLB won the rights to stats? Horse racing, NFL, NBA, NHL and others would jump on the bandwagon.
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I can see...
For instance, Coke could sue anyone that posts their recipe online for damages, even though the recipe itself is nothing more than a fact of a product.
But as far as MLB is concerned, I doubt they own a player's name or stats. If anything, the player themselves would own that information.
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Re: I can see...
A recipe is a trade secret... stats are not.
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Re: Re: I can see...
I wasn't arguing over the fact that MLB is in the wrong. I was arguing over Mike's statement that:
The problem with this, of course, is that you cannot own facts.
Coke sure owns the facts of their trade secret and has the right to sue.
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TheDock22 is the new dorpus
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Re: TheDock22 is the new dorpus
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Re: Re: Re: I can see...
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Re: I can see...
that they don't tell anyone the recipe without having them sign a nondisclosure agreement, and the recipe is a process, which is patentable.
Now if they broadcast the recipe on tv or sold it on recipe cards, that would be a different story.
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Re: I can see...
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Re: Re: I can see...
Care to provide an example?
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Re: I can see...
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Why you can't copyright facts
On my web site I say it is 31/100 or is .311000000000001 or 311 or Three-Eleven or point 3-1-1...ad infinitum. How do you copyright every possible expression of a public fact? You can't.
Facts are public domain - period.
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Re: TheDock22
anyone with enough resources could gather all information about a specific player/team/league.
i.e. Player A has so many at bats, hits, runs, HRs, 1,2,3 base hits, strike outs...etc.
that information is "public"
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Re: I can see...
Coke's recipe is intellectual property that is not publicly available. That's why they can sue if someone exposes that secret. Publicly-known facts, such as baseball statistics, are not property. They're public domain.
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Re:
Though I prefer Football... that is to say soccer.
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Re: Re:
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Re: Re: Re:
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a list of ingredients
How do you think that websites get away with posting taste alike recipes for Mrs. Field's Cookies or Church's Fried Chicken?
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Le Blue Dude
Soccer is the most boring game known to man. Who cares about watching a bunch of marathon runners scamper around the pasture with next to NO SCORING to show for it after 90 minutes? It's quite futile to watch and play.
It's now the sport of choice for little kids in the US because they don't have to comfort little Johnny because he struck out, got tackled/sacked or missed a tackle, missed the game-winning 3-pointer, etc. It's easier to handle losing in soccer because there's so little at stake to begin with.
I don't wonder that fans get out of hand and kill one another at soccer games. They're all mightily pissed off that they had to endure 90 minutes of completely useless and unentertaining thrashing.
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Re: Le Blue Dude
That is why the only country in the world that plays it is US and why is not showcased on the Olympic games.
But yeah,,, soccer is the most boring sport known to man, but I'm sure the LA Galaxy doesn't agree since they purchased David Beckham for 250 million dollars, neither the sports chains (ESPN, etc) battle for the broadcasting rights of soccer leagues in Europe and around the world.
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Re: Re: Le Blue Dude
Due to the stop and go structure of the game, plays matter more here than any other sport. It is the closest thing to action chess that is a popular sport.
That is football.
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Re: Re: Re: Le Blue Dude
That is because when a play stops everyone is on top of everyone,,, silly isn't it?
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ants
baseball = ants standing around in a field surrounded by hot dogs and beer.
Hey, why aren't those ants enjoying the food?! I think I'll bring it up in court.
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bmac
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Fucking idiot.
The only reason football and baseball are so popular is because those are your only (and exclusive) sports. Hell if the rugby players of the world decided to give up their competitive and violent game for a padded, protected, safe commercial-fest designed to sell beer, also known as the more-talking-than-playing game of american football, I'm sure they could give the US teams a run for their money. In the meantime, go on, celebrate your own successes in your own game that none of the rest of the world even competes in.
Hell the only popular american sport that other countries actually play is basketball - and compared to other countries (see: Olympics) america's basketball team, for the lack of a better word, fellates.
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As for trying to copyright the stats, how the hell can you do that when they're usually broadcast to the world over tv and radio every time there is a game? I would have thought they were public domain.
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atomatom
I'll grant you that a player has to be in really good shape and have great stamina, but that in no way makes the game fun to play or watch. It just means a bunch of in-shape people running around for 90 minutes and still ending up with little to nothing to show for all that effort.
Nobody I knew enjoyed playing soccer back then; it was just the only thing they could afford to do at my little private school. Later, the school devoted a little money to athletics and bought baseball gear and the equipment for flag football. We never played soccer again.
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Re: atomatom
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Re: atomatom
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Re: Mike
Baseball can be very boring, but it also has the potential to be thrilling. Wouldn't be my first choice.
Basketball, particularly NCAA basketball, would by far be my choice if I have to watch sports. Pro basketball, like baseball, simply has too long a season, and there's really nothing worth watching until the playoffs, and sometimes not even then.
But back to soccer, which is the reason I posted to begin with: Still nonsense. To paraphrase II from comment 18, it sucks and blows. And out of 90 minutes of coma-inducing activity, there's maybe 30 seconds of thrilling.
Nobody in the soccer realm is clamoring to make their stats copyrighted, now, are they?
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Re: Re: Mike
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Re: Mike, again
For the uninitiated, Xenu is the galactic overlord who killed trillions of aliens here on Earth (then called Teegeeack) and the souls of those aliens infect every one of us and prevent man from reaching his potential. Don't worry, though. $cientology has the cure and all you need to do is hand over your bank accounts, and you too can have cause over matter, energy, space and time through the miracle power of Dianetics and the e-meter.
www.xenu.net
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Re: Anon #28
Cricket is foreign to me. I don't have any idea what it's like, because I've never seen it played. I would think that I would actually find it more exciting than soccer, as I would be seeing something for the first time, and wouldn't know what to expect.
With soccer, I know exactly what to expect, and I always get it. No scoring, lots of running, etc. It would be more exciting to watch the 10,000 meters from start to finish. At least in that sport, there's guaranteed to be a winner when it's over.
Soccer can be made more palatable, however. Make the field of play smaller, the goal larger, anything.
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Re: Re: Anon #28
In soccer you see the ability of each player outrunning, dribbling the opponent, creating a play, passing, over the air, on the pitch, there's more than just kicking the ball or throwing it and running away before you get smashed by the opponent.
And if it's for the hitting and so called "strategy" see Rugby for instance... lots of hitting and none of the fancy gear (helmet, pads, armor, etc) players use in football.
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NFL stats and video games
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Okay, we get it...
We get the message. Now kindly shut the hell up about it and address the OP.
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Re: Okay, we get it...
Obligatory inflammatory buzzwords follow:
Abortion
Taxes
Pedophile priests
France
You get the picture. Now move along, nothing further to see here.
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Hi there!!!
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