Victory for Fantasy Baseball

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jun/02/court-refuses-to-consider-fantasy-baseball-dispute/

Supreme Court refused to take up appeal by MLB and the Player's Association trying to shut down a company that sells fantasy league products because it wanted all such products licensed by them.  This allowed the lower court's ruling to stand which, to simplify, found that players' names and stats are public information and fantasy league promoters and operators have a First Amendment right to use it. 

I don't personally play fantasy sports but it is clear that those who do are all hardcore fans.  It amazed me that MLB and the players would bring a suit that, if successful, would alienate and enrage their most loyal customers.  I'm an attorney so I recognize that the League had an argument that this company was profiting off their players' publicity rights (that's the right of a famous person to market their own name and likeness for profit) but it's a tenuous argument at best.  For instance, the box scores and recaps use the team and player's names and newspapers are commercial enterprises so the same argument would apply to the Sports Page and ESPN for that matter.

Usually publicity right cases involve a false representation that the celebrity endorsed the product or cause like when PETA did a parody of Got Milk ads and put up Guiliani's picture on a billboard with the slogan "Got Cancer"  (apparently  PETA believes drinking milk contributes to prostate cancer risk).  PETA was forced to take it down.  Fantasy sports is a far cry from a false celebrity endorsement. 

In any event, a victory for the fans and for entreupeners who wish to package information published in the newspaper every day without paying tribute to the greedy and myopic owners/players.  It's sad that the MLB needs a federal court to save it from itself because I guarantee the League would have lost more in goodwill and customer support than whatever licensing fee it would have gotten.