Sports statistics and intellectual property in the news (again): CNN (among others) reports that fantasy sports leagues such as those run by CBC Distribution and Marketing have been denied licenses to use statistics by the major league. (Yeah, we had already reached the point where the fantasy leagues were paying for their use of the statistics--now they're not even allowed that option.)
Before the shift, CBC had been paying the players' association 9 percent of gross. But in January 2005, Major League Baseball announced a $50 million agreement with the players' association giving baseball exclusive rights to license statistics.
Despite being turned down for the new license, CBC has continued to operate leagues during the legal dispute.
Major League Baseball has claimed that intellectual property law makes it illegal for fantasy league operators to "commercially exploit the identities and statistical profiles" of big league players.
This is one unfortunate side effect, in our current economic system, of database culture as an economic model: The simple compilation of facts is increasingly seen as the legal ownership of them.
[via /.]
Posted by johndanseven at January 16, 2006 10:08 PM