[Infowarrior] - Court denies new hearing in fantasy baseball suit

[Richard Forno]

Court denies new hearing in fantasy baseball suit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/26/2007

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/EE117B029A4
9D7508625739F007F875A?OpenDocument

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal appeals court denied a motion Monday to rehear
the Major League Baseball Players Association's case against a fantasy
baseball company that uses players' names and statistics without paying a
licensing fee.

The motion was filed after a panel of three judges at the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled last month that CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc.
doesn't have to pay the players, even though it profits by using their names
and statistics.

The motion was denied without explanation. The MLBPA can still appeal the
case to the U.S. Supreme Court. MLBPA attorney Virginia Seitz didn't return
a message seeking comment Monday evening.

The MLBPA had argued that players should be paid when their names are used
for fantasy baseball leagues, in the same way players are paid when their
names are used to endorse products. But the court found that fantasy
leagues' broad use of statistics isn't the same as faking an endorsement
from a player and not paying him.

Big media companies like Yahoo, ESPN and CBS operate online fantasy leagues.
Fantasy league participants create fake teams comprised of real MLB players.
Over the course of a season, fantasy league participants track statistics to
judge how well the players on their team are performing.