Comments on: Baseball Statistics as Intellectual Property? http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/01/baseball_statis.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:20:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Anon http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/01/baseball_statis.html/comment-page-1#comment-60894 Anon Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:02:33 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/01/baseball-statistics-as-intellectual-property.html#comment-60894 Yes -- the AP story seems to be the source of confusion here. Its description of the legal issues doesn't track well with the Complaint. Yes — the AP story seems to be the source of confusion here. Its description of the legal issues doesn’t track well with the Complaint.

]]> By: marty lederman http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/01/baseball_statis.html/comment-page-1#comment-60893 marty lederman Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:58:50 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/01/baseball-statistics-as-intellectual-property.html#comment-60893 Dan: It would, indeed, be preposterous if MLB were trying to stop people from distributing players' statistics. A sure loser, I hope. But there may be less here than meets the eye. The LA Times story reports that in "court filings," MLB has maintained that it is unlawful to "commercially exploit statistical profiles." But in the letters attached to the complaint, all MLB appears to be complaining about is the use of team logos and player "likenesses," which may raise other, less interesting, IP questions, but is a far cry from trying to monopolize publicly available statistics. It would be interesting to see from other filings whether MLB is actually pressing the statistics issue. In any event, MLB deserves to lose the case regardless of the merits, because in its 01/19/05 press release it included the following horrifying sentence: "The historic agreement is expected to aggressively grow the presence and penetration of Major League Baseball and its players on the Internet and provide more robust tools and experiences for baseball fans around the world." On the other hand, if MLB wants to copyright the phrase "aggressively grow the penetration," and thereby prevent others from using it. more power to them. Dan: It would, indeed, be preposterous if MLB were trying to stop people from distributing players’ statistics. A sure loser, I hope. But there may be less here than meets the eye. The LA Times story reports that in “court filings,” MLB has maintained that it is unlawful to “commercially exploit statistical profiles.” But in the letters attached to the complaint, all MLB appears to be complaining about is the use of team logos and player “likenesses,” which may raise other, less interesting, IP questions, but is a far cry from trying to monopolize publicly available statistics. It would be interesting to see from other filings whether MLB is actually pressing the statistics issue.

In any event, MLB deserves to lose the case regardless of the merits, because in its 01/19/05 press release it included the following horrifying sentence: “The historic agreement is expected to aggressively grow the presence and penetration of Major League Baseball and its players on the Internet and provide more robust tools and experiences for baseball fans around the world.”

On the other hand, if MLB wants to copyright the phrase “aggressively grow the penetration,” and thereby prevent others from using it. more power to them.

]]> By: BTD_Venkat http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/01/baseball_statis.html/comment-page-1#comment-60892 BTD_Venkat Mon, 16 Jan 2006 10:51:05 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/01/baseball-statistics-as-intellectual-property.html#comment-60892 There's some precedent from the <a href="http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000415.html" rel="nofollow">PGA</a> and the <a href="http://www.iusmentis.com/databases/us/" rel="nofollow">NBA</a>, both potentially relevant. There’s some precedent from the PGA and the NBA, both potentially relevant.

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