CBC Distribution vs. MLB Advanced Media

I love baseball. Its my favorite sport and its not really close. You'd be hard pressed to find a gourp of people that love the Cardinals more than my friends and i. Yet that doesn't mean that i love major league baseball. In fact, i think commisioner selig is a hack who's ruined a lot of great things about baseball without adding much to the game but signifigant monetary growth, which is something im sure the owners care dearly about, but i don't. i just like watching good baseball.

If you aren't familiar with MLB Advanced Media, suffice to say its MLB's media and content wing that was started primarly to jump start and promote majorleaguebaseball.com and every teams individual website. It's been more successful than anyone could possibly imagine, and if you want to know more about it, the hardball times has a great little history of it here.

First of all, i find this case to be of interest because its being tried here in st. louis, but also because it involves another of my favorite hobbies, fantasy baseball. even if you aren't a big fantasy sports fan this case has some far reaching implications. This is what the case revolves around: MLB saw a money grab by licensing their statistics to different fantasy sports websites. Only those websites with a license were technically allowed to use said game stats for the purposes of fantasy baseball. MLB's contention is that the players and major league baseball itself owns these stats. CBC contends otherwise. Theyve continued to run their fantasy game on their website under the premise that MLB cannot assert ownership over a historical event.

I tend to agree. This is something i wrote about at the old magic penguin but i feel like this is a huge issue that is flying under the radar that might have severe consequences. if you don't play fantasy baseball, or football, you could be saying to yourself, who freakin' cares. And on one level you'd be right. on another level though, the issue of who owns a historical event is at stake here. I'm not sure how MLB is going to assert ownership of statistics once a game is over, because what they are essentially saying is "we own the historical record of fact for what happens in ever baseball season for every game". In theory they could require newspapers to pay for a license to have reporters cover these games or to run standings or leaderboards. They could require me to have a license to blog about how Albert Pujols went 2-4 with a home run and a double and 6 RBIs at the game i went to. All historical events, all statistics, all things that major league baseball asserts is its own intellectual property.

I'm not sure if i can assert ownership over the fact that i ate a penn station sub today but if i can and i hear any of you talking about it. Your in deep trouble. I dont even want to hear you talking about it to your friend without my expressed written permission. I suppose the difference here lies in whos making the money. But i dont see these fantasy services as doing anything other than saving a fan the hassle of watching every game on MLB All Access to compile every statistic for the day to run their fantasy league. And im pretty sure that that's not against the law. Id like to know what side of the fence you guys fall on regarding this issue. Am i making too much out of this? Can baseball win this case? If they do, will this extend to other instances of companies or individuals asserting their rights over other historical events? Anyone have a reason that might get me to change my mind?

Law.com has a great write up of this too.