The NFL Wants You To Think These Things Are Illegal

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?

Comments

really.. this is on slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

how desperate for a story has /. become

"Not illegal" is not the same as "you can do this"

[guises]

The article misses the big point here: regardless of whether or not what you do is actually illegal, the NFL may very well sue you anyway. It's illegal in practice even if not in the books.

Is it illegal

[rossdee]

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

Re:Is it illegal

[Anonymous Coward]

This is apparently a result of your conscious efforts to distance yourself from the lower classes, and you could become a better person (read: someone who can find common ground with disgusting sports fans) by no longer denying yourself the enjoyment of men+balls, or if necessary forcing yourself to become interested. I feel terrible about my lack of appreciation for the tastes of the common man, I really must take up smoking, dog fighting, reality television consumption(actually, i'm quite tempted by the idea of a dozen or so contestants infested with TB, stranded and left to survive on a remote island, or maybe the US without medical insurance) and indiscriminate breeding right away.

Re:Is it illegal

[Livius]

By 'superbole', I'm guessing you mean Superbowl hyperbole?

Accounts

[bws111]

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

The author of the article is confused

[mysidia]

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.

Re:Tradition of ruination

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, that just gets in the way of all the gay sex!

Badly written

[Rick Zeman]

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.

NFL got a guru --- the MAFIAA

[Anonymous Coward]

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

xkcd

[Livius]

Munroe has the right idea:

Hooray for snacks!

Re:xkcd

[StillAnonymous]

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.

Re:"Not illegal" is not the same as "you can do th

[fermion]

Not only can they sue you,they might win.

This is because the NFL is not an ordinary business. It is a cartel of independent teams. Such cartels, for example OPEC, are illigal in the US since 1890 but is allowed through special acts of congress. This allows it to set rules for all teams, set TV contracts, and set pay scales without any competition.

This leads to the ability to generate profits only available to socialist organizations. For instance, excessively high payment from TV networks require excessively high fees to cable providers which are paid by all cable subscribers, even if they never watch the channel. The cartel is also able to leverage national monies to convince localities to force taxpayer to fund stadiums, even if those that are never going to use the stadiums. These monies then go into individual pockets as profits.

I have heard people saying the same about music halls, but there is certainly no national cartel of music lovers that bribe local officials, that transfers the risk of the building from a for profit organization the taxpayer.

There are other costs to society. Because the rules are set, public tax dollars can be used to train kids for the NFL through public school funds. Because salaries are set, the players, though well paid, do not have the ability to truly negotiate a contract. Recall that tech firms have gotten in trouble for this, even though the employees were generally well paid.

And of course there is a fundamental loss to a society that depends on the free market that kids are taught about fair play and rules within a socialist construct where there is in fact a rule book and powerful referees. While this is useful for a 10 year old, it is disastrous when an adult goes into a work place believing her or his life is really going to be controlled by a rule book. It kills innovation and creativity. At leas in baseball you can steal a base. The immaturity of football can be characterized by the fact that everyone got their panties in bunch over deflate gate. In the real free market world that would just be considered a necessary cost of doing business.

Which is to say that the NFL basically lives within it's own bubble. It has the ability to bribe congress, or throw enough lawyers at the problem, to bend the rules no matter what previous legislation or case law says.

And I don't think the NFL is a natural cartel, like the electric company. I think real competition, not the fake thing taught to kids by the NFL structure and games, is good. I don't think sports fans are nearly as dumb as the average sports cartel thinks they are. The current structure is merely a way to maximize profit at taxpayer expense, and to create a world where fundamental rights are infringed for the sake of the bottom line or a corporation.

Re:The most boring game on Earth

[PPH]

Its 100 million people who who need exercise watching 22 guys who don't*.

*Then again .....

Don't mind me. I'm just here so I won't get fined.

Re:Hyperbole Sunday

[hairyfeet]

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.