Yahoo! Taking An Aggressive Approach In Fantasy Football Suit

Prompted by an e-mail from a reader, we’ve had the occasion to take an ever closer look at the lawsuit filed by Yahoo! against the NFL Players Association regarding whether fantasy football games may be operated without the payment of a fee to the players. And, as it turns out, the lawsuit attempts not only to utilize without compensation the names of the players, but also “likenesses (including, without limitation, numbers), pictures, photographs, voices, facsimile signatures and/or biographical information (including but not limited to player statistics).” Um, so why does Yahoo! need anything more than the names? Thus, while we think that this case is a no-brainer with respect to the ability of Yahoo! (or anyone else) to run a fantasy football game by using player names and stats, we don’t believe that the case is quite so clear when it comes to the use of likenesses, voices, etc., especially since those things aren’t necessary to play fantasy football. In our view, if Yahoo! wants to enhance the basic name-and-stats fantasy experience, Yahoo! probably should have to pay for the ability to use likenesses, pictures, voices, etc.