CBS Interactive, a provider of fantasy football games, has challenged in the District of Minnesota the NFL Players’ Associate demand for licensing fees for the right to use player statistics as part of its game. CBS Interative argues that the players demand constitutes an attempt to monopolize the fantasy football market. This case mirrors a similar one decided last year in which the Eighth Circuit held that Major League Baseball players had a right of publicity in their statistics connected to their names under Missouri law, a fantasy baseball provider’s free speech rights to publish statistics and player names on its website preemtps the right of publicity in this context. This will be an interesting case to watch.
Update: CBS has filed for summary judgment, arguing that the 8th Circuit’s decision in the fantasy baseball case, which held that the first amendment rights of the game provider trumps the players’ right of publicity, extends to the fantasy football case. The NFL players association has responded by filing its own suit for damages for failure to pay licensing fees in the Southern District of Florida. It argues that the Minnesota case should be dismissed or transferred because neither party has substantial connections to the state of Minnesota. The association accuses CBS of forum shopping to gain the advantage of the 8th Circuit’s decision in the fantasy baseball case.