United States Eighth Circuit

In an action by plaintiff for a declaratory judgment against Major League Baseball players to establish its right to use, without license, the names of and information about major league baseball players in connection with its fantasy baseball products, summary judgment for plaintiff is affirmed as: 1) because plaintiff uses baseball players' identities in its fantasy baseball products for purposes of profit, their identities are being used for commercial advantage and the players therefore offered sufficient evidence to make out a cause of action for violation of their rights of publicity under Missouri law; 2) however, plaintiff's First Amendment rights in offering its fantasy baseball products supersede the players' rights of publicity; and 3) defendant could not enforce contractual no-challenge and no-use provisions against plaintiff.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/16/2007
• Published 10/16/2007

Judges

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel