Slashdot Mirror
Who Owns Baseball Statistics?
Class Act Dynamo writes "A sports fantasy league company has asked a federal court to decided whether baseball statistics belong in the public domain as history or are the property of major league baseball. Basically, they had been licensing the statistics for nine cents (US) per gross from the Major League Baseball Players Association. But MLB recently bought the rights to be the sole licensor and has refused to renew the license of the fantasy league company. From the article: '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.' What does the Slashdot community think? Shoud Barry Bonds' record 73 single season homeruns be in the public domain, or should I worry about having to pay royalties for the first part of this compound sentence?"
I have recently acquired the rights to myself as a statistic. You may license me as a single number in your statistics if you pay an appropriate licensing fee.
Otherwise, you must cease including me in your statistics, like so:
MLB Fans: 27 - 1
Sorry.
Somehow I'm not at all surprised.
I happen to own your lack of surprise, it's all right here in this deed. You now owe me $5.00 for each occurrence that doesn't surprise you, or the viewing of anything in your surroundings that appears to be perfectly normal.
That would be silly.
Of course I could argue that a cop can't write me a speeding ticket because i own the copyright in how fast i was travelling.
I got dibs on planck's constant!
A blog about stuff.
Holy crap. You might be on to something here. Now find a way to involve the DMCA!
The new national sport will be soccer soon until the soccer players become overpaid, whiny, wimps too.
Welcome to England
Brocklesby Park Cricket Club
I bought Avagadro's Constant and the Hubble Constant off eBay, and I own stock in e, pi and the golden ratio.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Did you hear who won the Sox game? Yeah it was great! Who won? I can't tell you, I only sent the MLB a check for $20 in royalties and I already told 10 people. Seriously... if this one goes the wrong way if moving to Canada.... yeah I said it.
-- Eekrano
WoW ! So other cows "may" have wheels?
This is deeep man !
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Perhaps they are admitting that the games are fiction -- so therefore fixed.
What, we can own facts now?
The earth is a flat disk!
For centuries it worked!
Ask your GrandGrandGrandGrandGrandGrandMa
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
by BadAnalogyGuy (945258)
;-).
Did you pick your nick yourself, or is that what people call you? Because it's spot-on
Sorry, but the telco already owns the rights to your number. Or maybe the publisher of the phone book -- which is not necessarily the same entity anymore since deregulation, privatisation and Local Loop Unbundling. At least you knew where you were when BT was all there was. Nowadays you have a choice of different phone companies who will put you on hold, charge you for it and make you repeat yourself at least three times to people whom you have to wonder how the f**k they made it into work that day. Actually I'm surprised they aren't paying Dorling-Kindersley to print the privatised phone books for them. They could have huge, glossy colour photographs of every subscriber -- and absolutely no useful information whatsoever.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Obligatory Onion link.
Sir,
Your legal precendents are no match for our crack team of high priced lawyers.
To ensure this fact, we have purchased the rights to the rights to the facts concerned in the cases you sight. As a result, any lawyer or judge who considers them will be forced to retire, without pension.
If you object to this, make moves to object, are seen or heard to object, or are seen or heard to be in a position facilitating objection, we reserve the right to legally force you in bankruptcy and/or exile and/or prision and/or Guantanamo Bay.
Yours,
MLB Inc.
Thought For The Day: 'Greed Is Good.'
May the Maths Be with you!
I always thought cricket was a way to work up a thirst before going to the pub, and the statistics were so the maths geeks (who can't bat to save themselves, let alone field) have something to do. A very democratic sport in that respect.
Radio cricket is an excuse for the commentators to discuss random bollocks (um, not literally) between balls, and televised cricket is pointless because they take it too seriously.
Given that the sort of statistics we're talking about here are closer to what statisticians would normally call data (X scored Y runs in game Z), it would seem obvious to me that it's historical fact, and not copyrightable. But then, I'm not American and don't give a toss about baseball.
is surely a big swirly pattern on the screen after each match
"You will forget who won, you will forget who won, you won't pirate our stats."
It must really piss them off with all the DRM they're intent on sticking on media they can't actually do this. Just imagine the fun of being able to resell you the same match every week. In fact they'd just need to tape one game, fire the players and broadcast the tape in loop.
New legislation will be passed making the Person2Person sharing of stats illegal - MLB agents will be kicking down the doors of mothers whose children discussed results in the playground.
Yeah, but you didn't buy a ticket from the corporation organizing the wonder of weather to see it, did you? Be sure the check the EULA next time you go see a game of baseball! I'll bet it says "You are granted a non-exclusive license to enjoy the game yadda yadda but the ownership and rights to the results remain the sole property of blah blah blaa." ;-)
Oh yeah, sorry should point out that the above is for the kind of football where the ball spends most of its time being kicked around by someones foot rather than being thrown around and caught in someones hands.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
Remind me to never bother using up any of my life finding out about this game... sounds really exciting
Better yet. Have him write the ticket and then collect royalities twice the amount. Actually make money speeding :)
You don't pick the ball up?
Sheesh, you silly Europeans! That sport will *never* catch on.
FYI.... '±' is the chinese character for "scholar".
.3 billion of them are literate enough to recognize the character. (Might be lower, probably higher.)
.3 billion Chinese using the '±' character an average of once a year.
.... Odds are...., Statistically speaking... Your still poor.)
-Lets consider that there are 1.3 billion Chinese.
-Let's assume that
So...
-Take
-Add the 4 Americans using the '±' character when they discuss baseball
-Multiply by your $50 USD per use
= You are a friggin kuai-ionnaire!!!!
Good luck collecting in China though. (The odds say,
That's right. Hu is on first. Don Hu, a chinese gentleman. Frank Watt is on second and Pierre Iaduneau from Quebec is on third.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
All your intellectual property are belong to us. No, really, we own the rights to it. And 51% of the human genome. So basically you belong to us.
I think legally it will hold up in court. All that means is that the laws need to be changed.
We should take up a collection for this: Buy the rights to, or patent if unowned, the genes that allow our lungs to process oxygen. Then demand, in court, a $.0001 loyalty fee per breath per person. While entirely silly, it would force the courts to rethink there policies and laws. As a bonus, if they don't reconsider , we'll all be rich.
Note: The intellectualy propery for this idea is soley mine. Anyone using this idea will have to pay me 10% of gross profits.
Maybe you could use some radar/laser interference device to try to encrypt you speed. When they find a way around your device, to actually figure out your speed, then they would be breaking the DMCA.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Ask your GrandGrandGrandGrandGrandGrandMa
Which one? I have 64 of those.
See that ship over there? They're re-broadcasting Major League Baseball with implied oral consent, not express written consent -- or so the legend goes.
</obHomer>
Thanks for the spoiler. Not all of us have read the books yet, let alone seen the movies they were based on.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
No, I'm Jack's complete lack of surprise
Part of this complete breakfast!
Just junk food for thought...
Well, that depends on where you are from.