St. Louis - Major League Baseball argued before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis this week that online fantasy baseball leagues should have to pay licensing fees for their use of players' names and statistics, the Associated Press reported.

MLB is appealing a lower court's ruling in favor of fantasy league operator CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc., in which judges said the data is in the public domain.

MLB argued that use of players' statistics by fantasy leagues is akin to stealing their images for use on counterfeit posters, while CBC likened the usage to box scores published by newspapers.

AP reports that the 8th Circuit judges "seemed skeptical" of MLB's arguments.

"There's not any affidavit from players who say they feel like they have been damaged," CBC's attorney Rudy Telscher told AP. "If we lose this case, hundreds of companies go out of business."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2y4knw (AP)

http://tinyurl.com/2cl3qz (DMW previous coverage)

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