Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
In the case of CBC Distribution and Martketing v. MLB, a court of appeals upheld an earlier decision that MLB players’ names and stats are not copyrightable A correct decision in my opinion. I want to write more but I’m busy packing appropriately enough, for our APBA league All-Star weekend which also uses player’s names … Continue reading “Court says MLB Stats not copyrightable”
In the case of CBC Distribution and Martketing v. MLB, a court of appeals upheld an earlier decision that MLB players’ names and stats are not copyrightable A correct decision in my opinion.
I want to write more but I’m busy packing appropriately enough, for our APBA league All-Star weekend which also uses player’s names and stats to some extent.
In the meantime, read more about the decision at Ars Technica.
The court said the players’ rights of publicity were not violated. The court did not discuss copyright infringement, at least not explicitly. It did say the information used by C.B.C. is in the public domain, which implicitly addresses the copyright question.
Names clearly are not subject to copyright protection. Stats are a bit more complicated, but a claim that the use of the stats is infringing would be very weak.
In any event, the case is about the right of publicity, not copyright infringement.
Hi Bill,
Do you have a source I could check out? The article I read says that it does cover the copyright issue.
thanx!
-tbz