In my unending campaign to find things about intellectual property law I dislike, I give you the NCAA's recent decision to throw bloggers out of the press box. Apparently, a writer for the Louisville Courier Dispatch ran afoul of the NCAA in the press box by blogging during a NCAA baseball game, giving game updates with analysis. He was thrown out in the fifth inning.
Now, there is no rule against blogging on the press pass. In fact, the AP consistently gives game reports to the reporter pool. So there can be dissemination of the game without being one of the rights holders to broadcast the game. But the NCAA invented the policy before the game and enforced it. No blogging from the press box.
Now, there's two major problems with this policy.
One, I'm not sure it's entirely legal given NBA v. Motorola, 105 F.3d 841 (2nd Cir. 1997). Statistics from a game are facts, and therefore not subject to copyright law. In the press box, the blogger in question was reporting the facts of a sporting event, which is not a violation of the NCAA copyright. He was reporting a story. The NCAA threw a journalist out of the press box for doing his job. Yet the NCAA freely admits he could continue blogging about the game if he was watching the broadcast on TV.
Two, this is just a stupid policy. You can count the number of people who care about college baseball on one hand. The NCAA could use all of the publicity for the tournament it can get. And it's throwing out people who are trying to publicize an event that barely anyone cares about. There's a very fine line between sports journalism and simple publicity (just ask ESPN). If it's journalism, then the NCAA can't stop him from blogging. If it's publicity, then they shouldn't want to.
Me and my deep love of intellectual property. I never should have married a patent examiner.
3 comments:
You're copyright analysis is impeccable. What the blogger was reporting was facts which are not copyrightable. The problem probably arises from a licensing agreement the NCAA has with ESPN for any exclusive rights to the event. And as I assume the blogger was an invitee to the game, the NCAA can always "un-invite" him from the game to protect the license and prevent any breach.
baker, have you heard anything about when the civ lib grades will be ready?
I have no clue. I know you wanted a better answer than that, but they'll come when they come, I guess.
Honestly, I'm not up on the rumors on the third floor. I am gloriously out of the loop.
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