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Originally Posted by DougWyatt
Aaargh.
I'm tired of people passing this off as a deterent for SI.
MLB LOST in court to a fantasy baseball organization. The players of the league, and their statistics ARE NOT property of MLB. The public may use them freely, and may even profit in doing so. There is no legal risk for SI putting out a roster set at this time.
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You need to brush up on your facts, because that statement is absolutely untrue. Yes, MLB lost. Then they appealed the decision. That appeal process is still going on. So absolutely nothing has been settled yet.
From
this Sports Illustrated article, the appeal was only heard on June 15th of this year, with a decision expected three to six months after then (so, sometime between September 15th and December 15th of this year). And even should MLB lose the appeal, they have further recourse:
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That will represent the final decision unless one of the parties seeks en banc review from the 8th Circuit or Supreme Court review.
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Blame the legal system for its laborious and byzantine appeals process if you want, but the incontestable reality of the moment remains that use of real players and real statistics for a commercial baseball product not licensed by MLB/MLBPA remains legally dubious at best.
- Kai