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The NFL Wants You To Think These Things Are Illegal

Posted by Soulskill on from the might-want-to-focus-on-making-the-players-think-certain-things-are-illegal dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Professional sports have become a minefield of copyright and trademark issues, and no event moreso than the Super Bowl. Sherwin Siy of Public Knowledge has an article debunking some of the things the NFL has convinced people they can't do, even through they're perfectly legal. For example, you've probably heard the warning about how "descriptions" and "accounts" of the game are prohibited without the NFL's consent. That's all hogwash: "The NFL would be laughed out of court for trying to prevent them from doing so—just because you have a copyright in a work doesn't mean you can prevent people from talking about it. Copyright simply doesn't extend that far." Recording the game and watching it later is just fine, too.

So, will you be paying attention to the game today? Ignoring it? Practicing your cultivated disinterest?

3 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. really.. this is on slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    how desperate for a story has /. become

  2. Accounts by bws111 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wrong. The NFL says the BROADCAST descriptions and accounts are copyrighted. Plenty of other places have their own accounts and descriptions.

  3. The author of the article is confused by mysidia · · Score: 5, Informative

    When NFL says "Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game"

    They are not referring to you talking to your friends about the game or even you authoring an original description and publishing it.

    They are essentially saying any descriptions or accounts given in the telecast or personal accounts written by staff under contract to create them are protected, which they are.

    You are not allowed to copy a description or account from the telecast and reuse their description or account beyond what fair use allows, as it is subject to copyright just like the images, video, and live audio.