NFL, MLB, & Studios Overstating Copyright Claims

by NotPhil | August 29, 2007 at 08:16 am

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Any fan of the NFL can almost recite the warning by memory: "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited."

It sounds like the NFL is saying that you can't talk about a game you've seen, doesn't it? That's because they are saying that. And they're wrong.

You might say, well, yeah, but so what? They'd never actually try to sue anyone over it, would they?

Oddly enough, they might, if they thought it'd increase profits or market share. That's why they're trying to assert the right to do so in their "copyright" messages.

The CCIA's complaint fingers the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBC Universal, Morgan Creek, DreamWorks, Harcourt Inc., and Penguin Group (USA) for deceptive trade practices, accusing them of systematically mispresenting the rights of consumers to use copyrighted material. ... "Consumers have the right to use the content in legal, noninfringing ways," Ward said. "Putting these warnings on broadcasts, videotapes, and DVDs is both misleading and threatening."

The proliferation of online video has compelled rightsholders to exert stringent controls over how their footage is presented. ... Brooklyn Law School professor and EFF staff attorney Wendy Seltzer found herself receiving some unwarranted attention from the NFL after posting a clip on YouTube containing the aforementioned copyright message in order to illustrate the NFL's lack of attention to fair use. The NFL sent a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube, to which Seltzer responded with a counternotification affirming that the clip did not infringe on the NFL's rights.

[But] instead of following the provisions of the DMCA, which mandates that rightsholders must respond to DMCA counterclaims in court, the NFL issued yet another takedown notice to YouTube. ...

"Our ultimate goal is to expose this for what it is and to make it clear to people that their rights are being violated," explained Ward. "We'll get to the issue of whether fines are necessary down the line."