CBS Interactive Issued Partial Summary Judgment In NFLPA Suit

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Judge Issues Partial Summary Judgment In Favor CBS Interactive's Fantasy Football Suit

CBS Interactive late yesterday won a major legal victory as Minnesota District Court Judge Ann Montgomery issued a partial summary judgment in favor of the media outlet in its fantasy football lawsuit against the NFLPA and its licensing arm. CBS Interactive last September sued the union, alleging it wrongly pressured the media giant to pay licensing fees to operate fantasy football games despite legal rulings supporting the unlicensed use of player names and statistics in fantasy games in the CDM Fantasy Sports case. The move quickly prompted a set of counterclaims from the NFLPA and an attempt by the union to move the dispute to Florida, where it would be out of the legal jurisdiction where CDM was decided. The series of rulings from Montgomery granted the partial summary judgment to CBS Interactive and denied key elements of the union’s attempt to dismiss the suit or have it shifted to Florida. CBS, however, did not prevail in an additional attempt to have the NFLPA’s push for further licensing fees in the wake of CDM be ruled in violation of antitrust laws.

FIRST AMENDMENT PLAYED ROLE: As in the CDM case, the latest ruling relied heavily on First Amendment concerns trumping the players’ rights of publicity with regard to fantasy sports. “Like in the [CDM case], the package of information used here comes within the ambit of the First Amendment,” Montgomery’s ruling reads in part. “The Court discerns no difference between the package of information here and that which was issued in [CDM] that would impact the balancing of publicity rights against First Amendment considerations." CBSSports.com Senior VP & GM Jason Kint in an e-mail said, "CBS is pleased that the court confirmed the use of player names, statistics and other information in CBS's online fantasy games is protected under the 1st Amendment." St. Louis-based attorney Rudy Telscher, who represented both CDM in the prior case and CBS in this one, said, “This obviously is very gratifying. It’s not hard to figure out reading through her opinion that CDM was directly on point and dispositive here. This is another piece of good news for the fantasy industry."

UNION RESPONSE: NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler said, "We've just received the decision, are reviewing it with our client, and we won't have a comment until we've had a chance to further analyze what's been decided." An appeal is anticipated from the union, but since the case remains in the same legal circuit as CDM, overturning both that and the current ruling will represent a greater challenge.