Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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?

10 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Hyperbole Sunday by Holistic+Missile · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just another Sunday with an evening football game. I'll catch it here and there. Can't sit in front of the tv for 3-4 hours; I'll lose interest.

    --
    When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. It only affects the people around you. Same thing when you're stupid.
    1. Re:Hyperbole Sunday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Football like all sports are for the mindless masses to keep the complacent. I gave up my TV 20 years ago and don't poison my brain with any dribble other than slashdot.

    2. Re:Hyperbole Sunday by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to mention the article is full of crap because if the NFL SAYS its illegal? Then it is...because they can afford a million dollar legal team with "experts" and research teams that can keep you in court for the next decade and you? you can't.

      For several decades now the only ones that have been able to go against an ubercorp is another ubercorp and the reason why is obvious, you send your local yokel lawyer against their dream team he is gonna be utterly demolished. Then you figure in the fact that they won't have to give up work to be in court, won't have to worry where their next check comes from,and even if they lose they can afford to keep the appeals going for another decade, can you? Unless your last name is Gates or Buffet? Not likely.

      This is why I've said for years we have to have a serious overhaul of our legal system because as it is now if you go against a megacorp (or the state) you are a junior HS football team and they are the Denver Broncos, doesn't matter if you claim the game itself is "fair" because in the end they have access to talent and resources leagues above anything you can possibly muster.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    3. Re:Hyperbole Sunday by Grishnakh · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The problem with watching these things on cable is that you then have to watch commercials.

      A better solution is to just download them on BitTorrent.

  2. Is it illegal by rossdee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    to not give a fsck about the superbole in particular of even (american) football in general
    ?

  3. Tradition of ruination by Cytotoxic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I will be practicing the modern tradition of ruining any chance of enjoying the game by attending a SuperBowl party. Ostensibly a gathering to watch a championship sporting event, the SuperBowl party actually results in a gathering of families where the game is on a television that happens to be in the same location. Every now and then someone will exclaim and attention will divert to a big play that just happened, but for the most part the wives' small talk and rounding up the kids will occupy the fathers attention. Except when the commercials come on. For some reason the wives are really interested in the commercials, so they'll stop everything and have everyone be quiet for at least some of the commercials.

    At least there will be lots of finger food and drinks.

  4. Badly written by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The author totally skips over the first sentence ""This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience" and then points out all of the things that a private citizen can do.

    Duh.

  5. NFL got a guru --- the MAFIAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whatever NFL is doing sounds very much like MAFIAA has been doing to everybody for the past 2 decades or so --- one FUD after another

    Tha MAFIAA violates the law more times than anyone can count - including demanding people's totally legitimate videos to be pulled down from youtube, mailing threatening letters to innocent party who never commit any music / video pirating, filing DCMA on legitimate contents online, and so on

  6. xkcd by Livius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Munroe has the right idea:

    Hooray for snacks!

    1. Re:xkcd by StillAnonymous · · Score: 5, Insightful

      People ask me about sports all the time and I just respond that I'm not interested in watching. The conversation typically goes like this:

      "Why don't you like sports?"
      "It's not that I don't like sports, in fact I like playing some of them. It's just that I don't enjoy watching them."
      "Why? They're so exciting!"
      "Would you like to watch me play a video game?"
      "No."
      "Why?"
      "That's boring."
      "Now you know how I feel about watching someone I don't know play a game on a field. Intersperse that with hundreds of advertisements, comments about how much money these guys are being paid because they were lucky enough to be born with the physical qualities that make them good at this game, and therefore how much more important they are than say, a group of scientists who's names you will never know that working on a cure for Parkinson's or leukemia."

      The commercial aspect and obscene amounts of money and resources poured into "professional" sports is actually a major turn-off to me and turns it from something I'm merely "not interested in" to something I actually resent. I would have enjoyed Hockey back in the 50's or 60's when it was just a bunch of regular Joe's with day-jobs who played the game for the love of it, not because they're some prima-donnas who're demanding they get an extra million or they won't play. Go watch the movie BASEketBall to see this.